An Irish Blessing
by fanwriter1245
Summary: Myndi hates Titanic. The movie and the real thing. But what happens when she gets thrown into the movie? Trying desperately to just get through everything in one piece, she'll meet an Irish boy who will make her see things with new eyes. TommyxOC
1. Thrown on Titanic

I never really understood the whole hype about the Titanic. I mean, yeah, it's tragic and it's sad and all, but come on, people die every day. And it's not like it was the worst event ever to happen in history. Just look at the Holocaust. Way more people died then.

The movie is even worse. It's just a glorified account of something that's already been blown way out of proportion.

I've never been a huge fan of chick flicks. Especially anything by Nicholas Sparks. I mean, almost all of his stories are the same. Boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl and vice versa, something keeps them from totally living happily ever after.

 _Titanic_ is no exception. I've only seen it once and it was the longest three hours of my life. I totally wasted my money seeing that with my friends at the big 100th anniversary showing. It was extremely unrealistic when it came to Jack and Rose's relationship, and the whole thing with the sinking was overdone just to make people feel sadder about something they already feel bad about.

By the end of the movie, everyone around me was weeping and crying their eyes out while I just couldn't wait to get out of my seat. People kept telling me I didn't have a heart because I didn't cry. First of all, I'm not really much of a crier to begin with. _Marley and Me_? _The Notebook_? _A Walk to Remember_? No tears. Second of all, I just really wasn't affected by onscreen deaths that were all completely fake. Jack Dawson and Rose Dewitt Bukater weren't even real people, so how am I supposed to feel upset about an event I don't care about where someone who doesn't exist died? Like I said, the whole event was sad, but it wasn't the worst thing to ever happen.

I was in my apartment procrastinating on all of the housework that needed to be done on what I thought was going to be just another Saturday. My roommate was at work, so I had the place to myself for a few hours which was nice.

I flipped through channels on the TV, and to my utter disdain, _Titanic_ was on. It was at the famous 'I'm flying!' scene that I found weird and silly. All my girlfriends seemed to find it romantic, but for heavens' sake, the people just met three days prior!

All of a sudden, the TV screen started blurring up and going haywire. I banged the remote a couple times, afraid I'd accidently messed something up again (I'm not really great with technology), but that didn't help.

I was just about to unplug everything and get my roommate to fix it whenever she got back when suddenly, my world went completely dark.

* * *

My head had never hurt so much before, which was saying something because I once got a migraine at my high school prom. I groaned and rubbed my temple.

"Hey, she's waking up!" I heard someone say.

I turned my head and saw someone who looked a lot like a young Leonardo DiCaprio, and a couple other guys next to him.

Okay, I was a little freaked out now. Sure, seeing a Leonardo look-alike is every girl's dream, but why wasn't I in my apartment, and why were there three guys next to me?

"What's going on?" I asked. "Where am I?" I looked down at myself. "And what am I wearing?" I muttered just loud enough for me to hear.

I was wearing some kind of old red dress that people wore back in the early 1900's. It wasn't really ugly, but I certainly didn't own anything like it. Where had it come from?

"You slipped and hit your head," Mr. DiCaprio look-alike explained. "I guess you were a bit excited about getting on Titanic."

My head snapped over to look at him. "What did you just say? I'm _where_?"

"You're on Titanic. Don't you remember? You were there with me and Fabrizio when I won the tickets for the three of us?"

"No. No, I am not on Titanic. That's impossible."

"I know," he smiled. "I thought so too. But here we are, and we're finally getting home to America, just like we've been dreaming."

I wanted to scream. I wanted to panic. But I found that my throat had constricted and I couldn't do anything.

"Myndi, are you okay?"

He knew my name. How did he know my name? Why was he talking about me being wherever he won tickets?

"I think I need some air," I mustered out.

"Yeah, that will probably do you some good."

He helped me out of the bed, and then he and I and the other Italian dude went up on one of the decks where we faced the gorgeous ocean. I wanted an explanation, but I had to be careful how I got it so no one thought I was crazy. Which I really hoped I wasn't.

"So, help me refresh my memory, you know, make sure everything's okay," I said cautiously. "How did you and I meet? And how did we get here?"

"We go way back. We've been friends for something like five years now. Remember? I was in Santa Monica drawing portraits on the pier for 10 cents. You came up and asked me to draw you, but after I finished the drawing, you confessed that you couldn't afford to pay me. So in order to make it up to me, I took you out for a night on the town. We had so much fun that we decided to start traveling together. It wasn't long after when we met Fabrizio here, and he joined us in our travels. As for getting on this ship, it was a poker game, and I won the tickets. We just managed to get on the ship right before it set sail. But in all the rush, you fell and hit your head on the deck. Is any of this ringing a bell at all?"

"Yep, that's, uh, pretty much how I remember it all," I lied so he didn't think I had amnesia. The last thing I needed was for someone who said he was my friend to start thinking I was a total freak.

"Are you sure? You still look kind of lost."

"Nope, it's all coming back now."

I had now come to one conclusion. I had been tossed into the _Titanic_ movie. Of all the movies to somehow get tossed into, it HAD to be this one? That just wasn't fair! I'm all for meeting Leonardo DiCaprio in his prime, but seriously? _Titanic_? I couldn't even be in First Class?

I knew one thing. Making it to the end of the movie was my way home. So all I had to do was not form any relationships with anyone, get on a lifeboat when the whole 'Women and Children Only' policy went on, and survive the sinking. Then I would go home, and get back to my own normal life with my roommate and her boyfriend. All would be well.

Okay, so today was April 10th, 1912. Just four days to get through before the ship sank and I was back home. My memory of the movie was a little foggy since I'd only seen it once and that was years ago. I couldn't even remember any of the characters' names except Jack and Rose. But if I was correct, then Jack wouldn't meet Rose for a couple more days, and then he would somehow fall hopelessly in love in a matter of two and a half days.

Good for them.

"Myndi, are you sure you're alright?" Jack asked.

"I'm fine. I guess I'm still in shock that we're actually on Titanic. It's so hard to believe!"

"Believe it, because you and I? We're the king and queen of the world!"

"King and queen, huh? No offense, Jack, but I think there's someone else out there who would much rather be your queen."

Jack dramatically put his hand to his heart. "You cut me to the quick!"

Okay, this was good. Slowly easing my way into my situation and accepting what has to happen. And bringing my natural sarcasm back into the picture.

I wandered around the E Deck, since Third Class people weren't really allowed to go anywhere else, trying to pass the time. Seconds seemed to drag on painstakingly slow. These four days were going to take forever! I didn't have my phone or my computer or anything. There was nothing to do!

I was out towards the railing, and I didn't notice that someone had spilled some kind of drink onto the deck. I began to slip, and my first thought was that Jack was never going to let me live this down. But before I could come crashing down onto the deck, I felt two arms snake under mine, preventing me from falling.

"Whoa, there!"

Whoever caught me helped me back up, and I turned to face him. He wasn't terribly handsome, but he was far from ugly.

"Might want to watch where you step," he said with a thick Irish accent.

"That's actually the second time that's happened," I confessed. "Although, last time, I managed to knock myself out. Great first impression, huh?"

"Eh, it's Third Class. No one really cares."

"Myndi Decker," I said extending my hand for him to shake.

"Tommy Ryan."

"Pleasure to meet you, Tommy."

"The pleasure's all mine, lass."

"I'll see you around later, I'm sure. Thanks for being 'my hero'," I said as I pretended to swoon.

I chuckled to myself as I walked away.

Tommy Ryan. I didn't remember him much from the movie. Of course, no one in Third Class really mattered in the movie except Jack. Everyone else was just there to be there. But he seemed like a decent enough guy.

I soon found Jack sitting near the railing sketching a father and daughter as Fabrizio sat next to him.

"Another sketch, Jack? Hopefully, they can pay for this one," I joked.

"Nah, this one's for me. To practice, you know?" He stared with intense concentration as he sketched the two people. I wished that I had that power but unfortunately, I didn't have an artistic bone in my body.

"Miss Myndi!" I heard. I looked over to find Tommy walking towards us.

"Tommy. I didn't expect to see you so soon. But I guess this is Third Class, and where we're allowed to go is pretty limited."

"You guys have met?" Jack asked.

"He saved me from falling on the deck."

" _Again_?"

"Hey, it wasn't my fault! Someone spilled their drink, and no one had cleaned it up!"

"That's the problem with you. You never look where you're going."

"Well, as I recall, you always jump in head first without thinking about the long-term effects."

"You guys sound like an old married couple," Tommy remarked.

"Me? Marry Jack?" I scoffed. "He should be so lucky."

"The ship is nice, huh?" Fabrizio said in an attempt to change the subject.

"Yeah, it's an Irish ship," Tommy claimed.

"Is English, no?"

"No, it was built in Ireland. Solid as a rock. Big Irish hands."

I was pretty sure he was just saying that because of his clear Irish descent, but I kept my opinion to myself.

We watched as an officer brought dogs to our deck.

"That's typical," Tommy said. "First Class dogs come down here to do their business."

"It lets us know where we rank in the scheme of things," Jack told him.

"Like we could forget? I'm Tommy Ryan," Tommy said as he shook Jack's hand.

"Jack Dawson."

"Hello."

"Fabrizio," the Italian introduced.

"And Miss Myndi," Tommy said, looking at me.

"It's just Myndi. Believe me, I am no 'miss'."

Tommy laughed and looked at Jack's sketch. "Do you make any money with your drawings?"

Jack didn't answer for his gaze was transfixed on something else. We all followed his line of sight, and I smirked to myself as I saw Rose standing on the upper deck meant for just First Class people.

"Oh, forget it, boyo. You'd as like have angels fly outta your ear as getting next to the likes of her."

"See, now _that's_ a 'miss'," I laughed.

We looked back at Jack whose eyes never moved from Rose. Rose spared a glance or two over at Jack, but never once did Jack look away from her. Fabrizio waved his hand in front of Jack's eyes.

Nothing.

"Jack," I said as I poked his shoulder. "Jack."

Still nothing.

Rose's fiancé came up behind her and they had a light, heated confrontation before Rose stormed off. I couldn't remember that guy's name, but I did remember that he was a real jerk, especially to Jack and Rose.

Jack's eyes were still fixed on the place where Rose had been standing. I could not understand how he seemed to fall for someone after a mere glance at her.

I grabbed the two guys' attention and silently motioned for them to pounce on Jack on my signal. Counting to three, we all made our move and jumped on him, finally knocking him out of his aloof state.

Once we had all regained our composure, and Jack was finally looking away from where Rose had been, my stomach hurt from laughing so hard.

It occurred to me that I hadn't experienced that in a really, really long time.

* * *

It was finally nightfall, and I was resting on one of the benches on the deck which had cleared out a while ago.

"Myndi!" Jack called to me. "There's a party downstairs. Don't you want to come?"

Parties meant people, and people meant making friends, and that was breaking Rule #1. "I'll pass," I said to him.

"But you love parties. There's lots of dancing and music, and everyone's having a good time."

"I just don't think it's a good idea considering what happened earlier today."

"Myndi, are you sure you're alright?"

"That's the hundredth time you've asked me that, you know."

"It's just that ever since we got on this ship, you've been acting a lot different. Normally, a possible concussion wouldn't stop you from going downstairs. Nothing would."

"It's been a long day. Maybe I just need some sleep and I'll be all better tomorrow."

"I hope so. Because if you act strange for the whole trip, I'm getting off this boat and losing you."

"What are you talking about? You wouldn't last thirty minutes without me."

"I lasted several years without you before."

"Yes, but now that you know what it's like to have me in your life, there's no going back."

Jack laughed and put his arm around my shoulder. "Come on, let's turn in."

"You can go to that party if you want to. I'm sure I can survive a few hours without you."

"Nah, it wouldn't be the same without you there."

"You give me too much credit."

"And you don't give yourself enough."

Tommy was right. We really did act like an old married couple. Which was weird because I'd only known the guy for a few hours…sort of.

As I lay in bed on the bottom bunk while Jack and Fabrizio slept above me, I couldn't stop thinking about my situation. I was scared about what was going to happen and if I would make it or not. I had to wonder what would happen if I ended up dying during the sinking. Would I die for real or just go back home? And if I did survive, exactly when would I go home?

"Psst, Myndi," Jack whispered. "Are you awake?"

"If I wasn't before, I would be now."

"Is that a yes?"

I rolled over so I could peer at the top bunk, and I found him looking over the railing. "Yes, it's a yes."

"I can't stop thinking about that girl I saw today."

"Yeah, I know. You wouldn't look away from her even if your hair was on fire."

"I've never seen someone so beautiful."

"I'm offended."

"You know what I mean. She was perfect. I just have to be able to meet her."

"She's in First Class, Jack. People like her don't end up with people like you and me." I thought back on the fact that I had been tossed into a movie. "Of course, stranger things have happened."

"Will you shut up?" one of our cabin mates muttered. "Some of us would actually like to get some sleep."

I giggled quietly as I looked back at Jack. "Whoops."

"Haven't you ever seen someone and just felt like you'd die without them?"

"For goodness' sake, Jack, you haven't even met the woman yet. You don't even know her name."

 _It's Rose…_

"It doesn't matter. She's perfect. I can already tell."

"Just go to sleep. Maybe luck will find you tomorrow." I rolled back over and shut my eyes.

Jack was crazy. No one could find real love that fast.

And luck wasn't going to find anybody.


	2. Day Two

"Myndi," Jack's voice said. "Myndi, get up."

I groaned and placed my pillow over my head. I had seriously been hoping that when I woke up, I would be back in my apartment and realize that I had just been dreaming about being in the Titanic movie. "Go away," I said to him.

"I'm going to get you out of that bed one way or another."

"I said go away."

"Okay, you asked for it."

Suddenly, I felt him grab my feet and yank me forcefully out of the bed so I ended up tumbling onto the floor.

"You are so dead!" I yelled. I grabbed my pillow and started hitting him with it. Needing some way to defend himself, he grabbed the pillow off the top bunk and we proceeded to get into one huge pillow fight.

"Okay, truce! Truce!" I yelled, breathing heavily.

"I win again."

"I let you win."

"Keep telling yourself that," Jack laughed. "Come on, let's go grab breakfast."

We went to the Third Class dining room, which was very small and crammed with people, and got ourselves some plates with a bit of potatoes and eggs. It wasn't a lot, but I guess that was to be expected.

Tommy and Fabrizio came over to join us once we were parked on benches.

"Sleep well?" Tommy asked me.

"I did, until _someone_ presented me with a rather rude awakening," I said, looking at Jack.

"I warned you," Jack laughed. "It's not like it's the first time I've ever done that."

"Say, Myndi," Tommy said. "Fancy a walk around the deck after breakfast?"

Normally, I probably would've said yes. After all, Tommy was a sweet guy, and I wouldn't mind getting to know him. But I had my rules, and that meant no friendships.

"You know, I—"

"She'd be happy to," Jack cut me off. I looked at him with wide, angry eyes. "I've got some more sketches to do, and I promised Cora that I would play with her today. So she's all yours."

I wanted to strangle him. He was not helping my case here. But if I just backed out, I'd look like a jerk, and we had enough of that from Rose's fiancé. So I swallowed all of the words I wanted to say to Jack, and finished eating.

Then Tommy and I started walking side-by-side around the only couple of decks we were allowed on.

"You've known Jack your whole life?" he asked me.

"That's kind of complicated. But no, not my whole life. We've been traveling together for five years."

"Wow. Don't you ever wish for a permanent home?"

"I'm kind of used to it. My dad was in the military, so we had to move around a lot when I was growing up. You know, before I met Jack."

Trying to keep my stories straight was really getting confusing. But I had to be careful not to slip up, so no one suspected anything was wrong with me. Though to be honest, I still wasn't sure there _wasn't_ something wrong with me.

"A military man, you say?"

"Mm-hmm. I'm very honored to be his daughter. And what about you? I can tell you're from Ireland, but what else is there to know about Tommy Ryan?"

"Well, I grew up with me mum, dad, and two older brothers on a farm out in the country. We all got along well enough, but with three boys, we got into a lot of scrapes with each other."

"I'm sure you did," I laughed.

"But our father instilled us with hard-working hands and minds. He made sure to teach us how to be proper gentlemen, even if we didn't have as much money as other people."

"He sounds like a nice man."

"He'd love you. Maybe one day you'll get to meet him."

I hated it when people talked about the future on this ship. It just reminded me of what we were about to face in now three days.

"You alright, lass?" he asked.

"I'm fine," I said with a fake smile.

"I ain't blind, you know. I can see that you're lying. Did I scare you with talk of meeting my father?"

"Really, Tommy. I'm okay. I'd love the chance to meet your father."

We ended up walking around in circles on the deck for hours, each of us trading stories about our lives before Titanic. I had to be careful with what I said because I wasn't exactly sure what parts of my history had transferred to this timeline I had with Jack. But for the most part, I was able to talk freely with Tommy. I hadn't felt so comfortable around someone in a while. Which was extremely problematic. The closer I became to him, the harder it would be to say good-bye when the ship sank.

But I just couldn't find it in myself to leave him. Conversation came easier with him than it did with my roommate, which I couldn't understand because I'd only met him yesterday, and I'd been friends with my roommate for four years.

We grabbed some lunch together and when we sat down on one of the benches, we got to talking even more. There were hardly any awkward pauses, and between the two of us, we never ran out of things to say.

In fact, I hadn't realized how long we'd been talking until people started trickling in to get their dinner!

"Myndi! Tommy!"

We turned to find Jack and Fabrizio walking towards us.

"I haven't seen you since breakfast," Jack said to me.

"Yeah, we just got to talking and lost track of time."

Jack raised his eyebrows knowingly, and I wanted to punch him. There was nothing going on between me and Tommy, nor would there ever be. I wouldn't allow anything to happen.

"What about you?" I asked. "Was spending time with Cora fun?"

"That little girl has more energy than anyone I've ever met. She made me chase her around the deck several times, and she actually managed to lose me twice."

"That's adorable. Get any sketches done?"

"A couple. I got one of this man lying on a bench, and another one of a woman by the railing."

"And now for the most important question…did you see Ro—um…that girl at all?"

Jack's face deflated quicker than I thought possible, but I was thankful he didn't notice my slip-up. "No. I kept a close eye on the First Class deck, but she never showed her face."

"She is First Class," Tommy pointed out. "She's probably with the highfaluting society folk, all talking about how much money they have."

"No, she was different," Jack said with a dreamy look on his face.

I rolled my eyes. "You're crazy. You've only seen this girl once and you're acting like a lovesick puppy."

"Love is never logical," Tommy said.

"This isn't love. Real love takes time."

"Some people are lucky enough to find love faster than others."

"I'll believe it when I see it."

We all finished eating, and Tommy and I finally parted for the evening. Now that he was gone, I was bored, and I desired his company once again. But I forced those desires out of the way, knowing that forming a good relationship with Tommy would only lead to pain.

As I lay in bed, I just couldn't seem to get Tommy out of my mind.

"Hey Myndi," I heard.

I rolled over and looked up. "Is this going to become a regular thing with you?"

"It's not like you're asleep."

"That's because you're talking to me."

"You think I can meet that girl tomorrow?"

"I told you before. She's from a completely different world than you are. The odds of you guys even seeing each other again are astronomical. I wouldn't count on it."

Okay, I'll admit that I was kind of having fun pretending that they'd never meet when they'd actually become inseparable in about 24 hours.

"Maybe I can sneak up there and find her."

"Don't you dare. The last thing we need is you getting arrested while we're on this ship. Plus, if you get caught, you'll never get to meet her then."

"Ugh. I hate it when you're right."

"I know. But hey, maybe you'll get lucky tomorrow. Who knows? On the 'Ship of Dreams', anything is possible."

"You think so?"

"Go to sleep, Jack. And you better not wake me up the same way tomorrow morning."

"I won't if you get out of bed and don't make us miss breakfast."


	3. Meeting Rose

I've never been a morning person at all, so once again, Jack had to literally pull me out of bed. I was too tired to have another pillow fight so I just accepted my fate and went down to get some breakfast with him.

"Uncle Jack!" a little girl's voice called.

Jack laughed as Cora came running up to him. He set his plate down and placed Cora onto his lap. "How's my best girl doing today?" he asked her.

"Fine."

"Cora, this is my best friend, Myndi."

I waved to the adorable little girl. "It's nice to meet you."

Cora smiled and then turned back to Jack. "Are you going to play with me again today?"

"Oh, I wish I could, but I've got to get some new sketches done."

"But I want to play with you!"

"I'll tell you what. The next time we have a party down here, I'll be sure to save a dance just for you."

That seemed to satisfy Cora enough.

"Tommy!" I called as I saw him walking around with a plate of food. He saw me and smiled and began walking over to us.

"Hello, lass!" he said happily. "Fancy taking a walk around the deck again after we eat?"

I looked over at Cora. "You know what? I'm actually going to spend time with this girl today."

From the look on Cora's face, it could've been Christmas. I winked at Tommy as Cora happily hopped off Jack's lap and grabbed my hand before pulling me out on the deck.

Cora thought of all sorts of games to play that really brought out my inner child which hadn't showed its face in years. It was so refreshing and fun that I completely forgot about Rule #1.

Jack was right. Cora was fast as she made me chase her around the deck. It didn't help that she was little and could squeeze through people's legs more than I could. I swear, girls her age never seemed to run out of energy.

Back at home, I never really spent much time with kids. I never even really babysat when I was a teenager. But playing with Cora made me realize how much fun they were and how good I was with them.

Towards the end of the evening, Cora's father came out and joined us on the deck where Cora was currently riding on my back, laughing with pleasure.

"Cora, darling, it's past your bedtime."

"But Daddy—"

"No buts. You know the rules."

I set Cora back down on the deck, and to my surprise, she hugged me tightly around my waist. "Good-bye, Aunt Myndi. Thanks for playing with me. You're even funner than Uncle Jack."

I was so touched by her calling me Aunt that I couldn't find words for a moment. "No, Cora. Thank you for showing me how to have fun again."

Cora's father picked her up and began leading her back to her cabin.

"That girl's taken a shine to you."

I turned to find Tommy smiling as he walked up to me. "Why Tommy, were you spying on us?"

"Not spying. Just watching from afar."

"So spying."

"Call it what you wish."

"I call it spying."

"Okay, okay, I was spying on the two of you. I was just waiting for us to finally get a moment to talk."

"We talked all day yesterday."

"And all the same, I feel like I could talk to you for years and years to come."

I think I blushed. That was a problem. "And I could too. Just not right now. Excuse me."

I hurriedly ran off, hoping he didn't see my crimson cheeks.

I found an empty bench and sat down on it, my thoughts running wildly. I had known Tommy for two days. How could I be blushing around him already? We weren't Jack and Rose! No feelings could form that fast. Especially not from me.

As I sat on the bench, I then realized just how much I had broken Rule #1 so far. I was getting increasingly close with Tommy, I had decided to play with Cora all day and now she was calling me her aunt, and Jack was the best guy friend I'd ever had. I still planned on grabbing a lifeboat as fast as I could when the time came, but it would be harder to say good-bye.

How hard was it to keep three simple rules? Don't form relationships, get on a lifeboat, and survive the sinking. It wasn't difficult! And yet I had already broken one of three.

Great job, Myndi. Way to really get through this movie.

My thoughts drifted back over to Tommy. Was he into me? He couldn't possibly be _really_ into me. The only guy who I'd ever known to fall so hard so fast was Jack.

Speaking of which, wasn't something supposed to be happening between them tonight? How did they meet again…?

As if on cue, a shrill scream pierced the air and several men ran to the back of the ship. I racked my brain trying to remember what was happening. Something about Rose nearly jumping, right? And Jack talked her out of it, but she slipped so he helped her back up. But then the officers got there and saw Rose on the ground with a ripped dress, and…

Oh, no.

I ran to the back of the ship after the other officers and found a man, who I presumed to be the Master-At-Arms, putting handcuffs on Jack. There were several First Class members watching, and Rose was sitting on a bench with a blanket wrapped around her.

"What's going on here?" I exclaimed, attempting to run up to Jack.

"Stay away from him, ma'am," one of the officers said as he held his hand out a little. "He's just assaulted someone."

"That's impossible!"

"This is completely unacceptable!" Rose's fiancé yelled getting up in Jack's face. "What made you think that you could put your hands on _my_ fiancée?" Jack's eyes darted to Rose for a second, and he clearly noticed that. "Look at _me_ , you filth!"

Jack was _not_ filth. Not remotely. I was furious at Rose's fiancé for calling him that, but I decided that it was best not to tell him that he was actually the filth in this movie. Something told me that a Third Class passenger saying that to a First Class passenger wouldn't go over well.

"Cal," Rose called.

"What do you think you were doing?" he continued.

"Jack's my best friend!" I told everyone. "He would never hurt anyone!"

"She's just defending the monster!"

I wanted to toss him overboard, but I restrained myself.

"Cal, stop," Rose said as she came up to him. "She's right. It was an accident."

"An accident?"

"It was. Stupid really. I was leaning over, and I slipped. I was leaning far over to see the, uh…uh, the, uh…" She moved her finger around in little circles, trying to think of the word.

"Propellers?" Cal offered

"Propellers! And I slipped. And I would have gone overboard, but Mr. Dawson here saved me and almost went over himself."

"You wanted to see—she wanted to see the propellers," Cal laughed.

"Like I said, women and machinery do not mix," an older man remarked. I would've been angry, but it was kind of the truth. For me, anyway.

"Was that the way of it?" the Master-At-Arms asked Jack hardly.

Rose looked at Jack, silently begging him to just go with it for all our sakes.

"Yeah," Jack said. "Yeah, that was pretty much it."

"Well, the boy's a hero then," the older man said. "Good for you, son. Well done. So it's all's well and back to our brandy, eh?"

The Master-At-Arms uncuffed Jack, and I ran up to him. He gently put his arm around me, but not romantically, of course. He would never even consider doing anything that resembled a romantic gesture in front of Rose.

Cal wrapped his arms around Rose. "Look at you. You must be freezing. Let's get you inside."

"Perhaps a little something for the boy."

"Of course. Mr. Lovejoy, I think a 20 should do it."

Another gentleman with Cal started pulling out some cash to give to Jack. He was really old, and from the look on his face, he was quite displeased with his life and got his kicks out of other people's misery. If his name was really Lovejoy, it was a terribly inappropriate name for such a man.

Rose scoffed. "Is that the going rate for saving the woman you love?"

Cal smirked. "Rose is displeased. What to do? I know." He walked over to where Jack and I stood. "Perhaps you could join us for dinner tomorrow evening to regale our group with your heroic tale."

Jack hesitated slightly before saying, "Sure, count me in."

"Good. Settled then." He walked off and I could hear him say discreetly to another man, "This should be interesting."

Ugh, he was even worse than I remembered. Maybe it was because now I actually cared about what happened to the people here.

Jack whistled after Lovejoy. "Can I, uh, bum a smoke?"

Lovejoy handed Jack two cigarettes. He put one behind his ear and the other in his mouth. Lovejoy looked at the two of us condescendingly.

"You'll want to tie those," he told Jack, referring to his untied boots. "It's interesting. The young lady slipped so suddenly, and you still had time to remove your jacket and your shoes."

Lovejoy walked away with a small smirk on his face.

"So I'm thinking he knows something's up," I commented.

"Because something is up. Rose wasn't just leaning over to see the propellers."

I wanted to tell him that I knew and he really didn't have to explain, but if I did, things would get very complicated very fast. "What are you talking about?" I asked, playing dumb.

"She was about to jump. So I told her that I would jump after her if she did."

"Jack, you would've gotten yourself killed along with her."

"Come on, Myndi, you know I could've handled it. I told you about what happened at Lake Wissota."

"Well, yeah, but even still…"

"Anyway, it took some convincing, but eventually I was able to get her to start coming back over. But she slipped on her dress and almost fell. I managed to grab her and pull her back over. From what the officers saw, it didn't look good, and they thought I…well, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

"We should get some sleep."

He put his arm around me again and we went down to our beds.

* * *

 _As Rose sat in front of her mirror, she couldn't get her mind off that boy who had saved her, and the girl who had tried to defend him._

 _She had almost died tonight…by choice. But just when she thought that no one cared, that boy was there to pull her back and save her life, telling her that she didn't really want to jump off the ship. She didn't even know him, and he didn't know her, yet he was the one to save her._

 _And then there was that girl. Rose couldn't get her out of her mind. She must've been that boy's closest friend judging from how desperate she was to convince everyone else that he was innocent. When Jack put his arm around her, it reminded Rose that she didn't have someone like that in her life. She had Trudy, but in her society, there was a difference between a friend who was a maid, and a friend who was an equal. She couldn't open up to Trudy about her heart's deepest desires._

 _There was a knock on the door, and Cal opened it, pausing in the doorway._

 _"_ _I know you've been melancholy," he said to her. "I don't pretend to know why." He came over to her, and she saw he was holding a small box. "I intended to save this until the engagement gala next week. But I thought…tonight."_

 _He opened the box and a necklace sat inside in the shape of a heart. The heart itself was huge!_

 _"_ _Good gracious," Rose exclaimed quietly._

 _Cal chuckled. "Perhaps as a reminder of my feelings for you."_

 _"_ _Is it a—"_

 _"_ _Diamond? Yes." He took it out of the box and looked into the mirror as he fastened it around her neck. "56 carats to be exact. It was worn by Louis XVI and they called it '_ Le Coeur De La Mer _'."_

 _"_ _The Heart of the Ocean," Rose translated at the same time as Cal._

 _"_ _Yes."_

 _"_ _It's overwhelming," she said after a pause. She was referring to her whole lifestyle, but needless to say, Cal didn't take it that way._

 _"_ _Well, it's for royalty. We are royalty, Rose." He leaned down and put his elbow on her vanity as his head rested on his hand. "You know, there's nothing I couldn't give you. There's nothing I'd deny you…if you would not deny me. Now open your heart to me, Rose."_

 _Rose looked back at her reflection and began fingering the large jewel around her neck. As beautiful as it was, it was heavy, and she felt as if it was tightening around her neck until she couldn't breathe._

 _It was strange. Many people in Third Class would kill each other to get their hands on the diamond. But now that it was in Rose's possession, she didn't want it. It just served as a reminder of the life she had been forced into._

 _She often wondered if she would long to be in First Class if she had been born a Third Class girl. From what she saw from that girl, she was happy enough in Third Class. She had someone to look out for her and vice versa. She looked as light as a feather and not weighed down by the pressures of a life in the high society._

 _Why couldn't Rose have that too?_

* * *

Like I guessed, it wasn't long before Jack was once again whispering my name.

"Can I help you?" I asked, peeking up at him.

"I just wanted to say…thanks for defending me back there."

"Of course. What are friends for?"

"Rose," Jack said dreamily. "What a perfect name for a perfect girl."

"I told you anything was possible. I'm sure that wasn't exactly the meeting you envisioned, but hey, you got to talk to her."

"What's going on with you and Tommy anyway?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You guys spent every waking moment together the other day, and he wanted to do so again, but you pushed him away to spend time with Cora."

"Maybe I just wanted to make the girl happy after you said you couldn't play with her."

"Or maybe you're avoiding him because he likes you."

"It's been two days. He does not like me like that."

"I like Rose, and I've only talked to her once in which case I was trying to talk her out of killing herself."

"And that's great for you…well, sort of, but that's you. Tommy and I are just friends and that's all we're going to be."

"Yeah, right."

"You know what? Just go to sleep, Jack."

As I heard him chuckling above me, I became more and more agitated. What if he was right and Tommy really did like me? Then how was I ever supposed to leave him once the ship started sinking?


	4. Getting Ready for Dinner

The next day, all of us were gathered in the General Room doing various activities. I watched some of the younger boys make a game of chasing the rats which disgusted me to no end. How people lived like this all the time was beyond me.

Fabrizio was sitting behind me conversing with a pretty blonde girl.

"Any Italian?" he asked her, enunciating his words the best he could.

"Norwegian only," she answered with a very heavy accent.

With a little bit of time, he was able to get her to say his name, while she introduced herself as Helga.

Jack was drawing with Cora as Tommy looked at some of his other sketches of the people around us.

"They're very good," he remarked. "Very, very good."

"Thanks," Jack said.

Cora's parents walked over to where we were sitting. "Cora," her father said. "We have to go now. Say good-bye to Uncle Jack and Aunt Myndi."

"Bye, Uncle Jack. Bye, Aunt Myndi," Cora waved.

"Good-bye, Cora," we both smiled.

I looked at Jack once she left. "So we're an aunt and uncle now."

"Well, Tommy did say we act like an old married couple," he laughed.

The room suddenly seemed to get a little quieter. I looked towards the stairs and there was Rose coming down to the little old Third Class room. I felt kind of bad for her because everyone was staring at her, and she had to have felt severely out of place. It was weird to be in a society where some people felt awkward in the presence of others simply because of the difference in the amount of money they had. I went on a Disney Cruise once and even though we couldn't afford the really nice rooms, it was impossible to tell who had a ton of money and who didn't.

Helga, Fabrizio, and Tommy turned their attention to Rose.

"Jack," I said, tapping him on the arm.

He turned and froze at the sight of the woman he had saved last night. He quickly stood up in front of her. I could see Rose's gaze flicker to me for a moment, and it almost looked like she was studying me, as if trying to examine the reasons why exactly we were different.

"Hello, Mr. Dawson," she said politely to Jack.

"Hello again," Jack smiled.

"May I speak with you?"

"Yeah."

I rolled my eyes as I saw that Jack wasn't moving. When a woman says 'May I speak with you?', she always means she wants to talk about something serious. Jack clearly didn't get that.

Rose looked over at all of the eyes staring at her interaction with Jack.

"In private?" she added.

"Uh, yes. Of course." He grabbed his coat and sketchbook off the bench as I gave him a knowing look. "After you."

Tommy, Fabrizio, and I all exchanged shocked looks, surprised that the woman Jack couldn't stop thinking about was actually giving him the time of day.

I brought them in closer to me. "He actually got to talk to her last night."

"Really?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah, he actually saved her life. She was about to fall off the ship or something, but he caught her before she went into the ocean. Apparently, she's engaged to some hothead. He's rich and arrogant and I think he hates Jack and me already, mostly because we're not as rich as he is. But he did get invited to dinner with them tonight as thanks for saving her. He's going to be part of the First Class for one night."

Tommy and Fabrizio laughed heartily at the idea of Jack as a member of the First Class. We all knew he didn't belong there any more than I did.

"He better be careful," Tommy said. "A Third Class fella up in First Class? They'll eat him up like fresh meat."

"I think Jack can take of himself," I smirked. "Even against First Class bloodsuckers."

"You sure have a way with words, lass."

"Oh, you know, when you travel the world…" _Or you're actually from the 21_ _st_ _century…_

I ended up staying in the General Room with Tommy for a lot longer than I wanted to. He played an Irish song for me on the piano that he had learned from his father. I was pretty impressed with his piano skills. Who knew someone like him could play so well? I showed him that I could do a split, which he found rather impressive. He tried to do it himself, but quickly stopped when he realized he didn't have a prayer.

"Myndi!"

I turned to find Jack running up to me excitedly. "What? What is it?"

"Come on. You're gonna want to see this!"

As he pulled me away, I tossed back to Tommy, "I guess I'll see you later!"

Jack began leading me up to First Class, but I pulled him back.

"What are you doing? We're not allowed up there."

He smiled with a glimmer in his eye. "Well, tonight, we are."

He continued pulling me through the halls where people's rooms were before finally knocking on one of the doors. A woman with a large smile answered.

"Hello, Jack!" she said brightly. "And this must be that friend you were talking about."

"I'm Myndi," I smiled.

"Call me Molly. Come on in."

Jack and I entered her room, and I was surprised when I realized just how much bigger and nicer everything was compared to Third Class. She had this room all to herself while we had five people crammed into one room and four beds.

"I'm helping Jack get ready for tonight," Molly said. "He told me that he wanted you to see him first."

"Well of course, he does," I smirked. "I have to approve of everything he does and wears. Without me, he would be totally lost."

Molly took out a tuxedo and handed it to Jack. "This is my son's. I think you two are pretty similar in size, so this should fit well enough. The bathroom is right down there."

Jack left for the bathroom and Molly decided to make conversation with me.

"So, Jack tells me you both have been traveling together for five years now?"

"Yes, ma'am. He always takes real good care of me."

"And, uh, I have to ask, you ever…feel anything… _more_ towards him?"

I laughed lightly. "No, he's more like a brother to me. Besides, he's a couple years younger than I am. And I believe he has fallen quite hard for Miss Rose Dewitt Bukater. I've never seen him look at another girl the way he looks at her. And that's saying something because he draws women nude. Although…I beg you to please not mention that at dinner…or let him know that I told you that."

Molly laughed boisterously. "Of course not. That will stay in this room."

"You're not like the others, Molly. Why are you being so nice to us?"

"Well, we're all people in the Lord's eyes, and if He doesn't see a difference, then I don't either."

"Very well said."

Jack came back into the room with the tuxedo on and his hair slicked back. He looked a lot better with his hair naturally, but he was going to be in First Class and he was expected to look like that. That was one reason why I couldn't be in First Class. Sure, dressing up is fun every now again, but constantly having to look flawless? No, thanks.

"Wow," I smiled. "You clean up nice."

"I was right!" Molly exclaimed as I helped Jack put the jacket on. "You and my son are just about the same size."

"Pretty close," Jack said, looking at himself in the mirror.

I had to admit that he did look really, really handsome. I always was a sucker for a guy in a tuxedo. But alas, his heart was taken. I knew that from the beginning.

Molly stood behind him. "You shine up like a new penny." She laughed with pleasure at how much different he looked.

"What do you think, Myndi?" Jack asked, turning to face me. "Could I pass for one of them?"

"Surprisingly enough, you could. You're amazing, Molly."

"Thank you, ma'am. Now we should get going. Believe me, you do not want to make these people wait."

"Alright. I can't wait to hear all about it. You look after him now."

"I will."

Jack and Molly left to go to the First Class dining room while I went back to Third Class to grab some dinner of my own which I knew wouldn't be as nearly as extravagant as what Jack was going to get.


	5. Fancy Dinner

_"_ _Tell us of the accommodations in steerage, Mr. Dawson," Rose's mother said to Jack as they sat down at the table. "I hear they're quite good on this ship."_

 _Jack looked at the woman with a thin smile, knowing full well how much she disapproved of him. "The best I've seen, ma'am. Hardly any rats."_

 _Jack smiled as the others at the table laughed at his small joke. If only it was a joke._

 _"_ _Mr. Dawson is joining us from the Third Class," Cal explained. "He was of some assistance to my fiancée last night."_

 _"_ _It turns out that Mr. Dawson is quite a fine artist," Rose told everyone. "He was kind enough to show me some of his work today."_

 _"_ _Rose and I differ somewhat in our definition of fine art. Not to impugn your work, sir," Cal added quickly to Jack._

 _Jack shook his head, knowing full well that Cal didn't really care if he offended him or not. Rose cleared her throat and discreetly motioned for him to take his napkin off his plate so the waiter could serve him. He did so, trying his best to make it look like he knew what he was doing._

 _He secretly wished Myndi had been invited to dinner too. He could do with her sarcasm and wit to lighten the mood right about now. But if he was lucky, Tommy was downstairs doing his best to win her over. It was so obvious that there was an attraction between them. Why did that girl have to be so stubborn?_

 _"_ _She may be mine on paper, but in the eyes of God, she belongs to Thomas Andrews," Mr. Ismay said to the group._

 _Jack looked down at the several utensils beside his plate. He could only imagine what Myndi would've said about having so many. He leaned over to Molly. "Are these all for me?"_

 _"_ _Just start from the outside and work your way in," she said quietly to him._

 _"_ _He knows every rivet on her, don't you, Thomas?" Ismay continued._

 _"_ _Your ship is a wonder, Mr. Andrews. Truly," Rose said to Mr. Andrews._

 _"_ _Thank you, Rose."_

 _A waiter began serving everyone caviar. "And how do you take your caviar, sir?" one of them asked Jack._

 _"_ _No caviar for me, thanks," Jack said politely. "Never did like it much." He recalled the time where he and Myndi were outside a fancy restaurant, joking about how anyone in the world could possibly like a food that was basically fish eggs._

 _"_ _And where, exactly, do you live, Mr. Dawson?" Rose's mother asked him._

 _"_ _Well, right now, my address is the R.M.S. Titanic where I live with Myndi Decker, my best friend for several years now. After that, we're on God's good humor."_

 _"_ _And how is it that the two of you have means to travel?"_

 _"_ _I work my way from place to place. You know, tramp steamers and such. And Myndi helps me out to earn some money herself. She can do pretty much anything she sets her mind to. But I won our tickets on Titanic here at a lucky hand at poker. A very lucky hand." He looked at Rose for a second at the last sentence, and she quickly began blushing._

 _"_ _All life is a game of luck," Colonel Gracie said._

 _Cal shook his head. "A real man makes his own luck. Right, Dawson?"_

 _"_ _Mmm," Jack nodded._

 _"_ _And the both of you find that sort of rootless existence appealing, do you?" Rose's mother continued with her attempts to make Jack look bad._

 _Molly eyed her down angrily, remembering her promise to Myndi that she would look after Jack._

 _Jack took a small breath, and tried to think of only good things to say. "Well, yes, ma'am, we do," Jack said honestly. "I mean, we got everything we need right here with us. Got air in our lungs and a few blank sheets of paper for me and we got each other. I mean, we love waking up in the morning not knowing what's going to happen or who we're going to meet, where we're going to wind up. Just the other night, we were sleeping under a bridge, and now here I am on the grandest ship in the world having champagne with you fine people while she's busy making some new friends of her own." Everyone, minus Rose's mother, laughed while Jack turned to the waiter and held up his champagne glass. "I'll take some more of that." He turned back to everyone at the table. "I figure life's a gift, and we don't intend on wasting it. You never know what hand you're going to get dealt next. You learn to take life as it comes at you. Here you go, Cal." He tossed him a lighter when he noticed that he wanted to light a cigarette. "To make each day count."_

 _"_ _Well said, Jack," Molly said to him._

 _"_ _Hear, hear!" Colonel Gracie added._

 _Rose lifted up her champagne glass. "To making it count."_

 _"_ _To making it count," everyone said in unison as they all held up their glasses._

 _Jack smiled, knowing Myndi would be proud of how well he was handling the situation. Although she would've been more than furious at how Rose's mother was trying her hardest to embarrass them. He chuckled to himself just thinking about all the things she would say—or at least would want to say—to the woman._

 _Jack knew that there was something off about Myndi ever since they had boarded the ship. It wasn't necessarily bad, it was just different. She was still her usual sarcastic self, but she didn't seem exactly like the person he had spent all of his time with. He was passing it off as excitement or disbelief that they were on their way to America or even the possibility that she was falling for someone, but whatever it was, he wanted to find out._

 _As the night continued, Jack told the others how he met Myndi and how they had been inseparable ever since. They were almost like family, but he made sure to include how they were not attracted to each other romantically. He said that for Rose more than anything. He didn't want her thinking that he wasn't interested in her. Because he certainly was._

 _"_ _Mr. Brown had no idea I'd hidden the money in the stove," Molly laughed as she finished up one of her stories. "So he comes home drunk as a pig, celebrating, and he lights a fire!"_

 _"_ _Next, it'll be brandies in the smoking room," Rose said softly to Jack._

 _Colonel Gracie stood up from the table. "Well, join me in a brandy, gentlemen?"_

 _The other men voiced their agreements and stood up as well as Jack and Rose smirked at each other._

 _Rose smiled. "Now they retreat into a cloud of smoke and congratulate each other on being masters of the universe."_

 _"_ _Ladies, thank you for the pleasure of your company," Ismay smiled to everyone._

 _Cal went behind Rose's chair. "Rose, may I escort you back to the cabin?"_

 _"_ _No, I'll stay here," Rose answered._

 _Jack stood up and handed Molly back the pen she had lent him. "Here you go, Molly."_

 _"_ _Joining us, Dawson?" Colonel Gracie asked. "You don't want to stay out here with the women, do you?"_

 _Jack smiled, knowing exactly what Myndi would think of that little comment. "No, thanks. I've got to be heading back."_

 _"_ _Ah."_

 _"_ _Probably best," Cal smirked. "It'll be all business and politics, that sort of thing. Wouldn't interest you." He walked past him, and called, "But Dawson." Jack turned, and Cal tossed him back his lighter. "Good of you to come."_

 _Jack tucked the lighter back in his pocket and went over to Rose, wondering how business and politics could possibly interest anyone._

 _"_ _Jack, must you go?" she asked._

 _"_ _Time for me to go row with the other slaves. Besides, I believe Myndi will be missing me. She can't be without me for too long, you know. Good night, Rose."_

 _He gently took her hand and kissed it, discreetly slipping a piece of paper into her palm. As he walked away, he looked back at Rose to make sure she read the note. Seeing the expression on her face, he went to go wait at the top of the Grand Staircase for her._

 _While he waited, he kept getting more and more antsy. He couldn't wait to tell Myndi all about his night and to introduce her to Rose. He was sure the two women would get along perfectly._

 _Hearing footsteps behind him, he turned and smiled when he saw Rose approaching him. "So, you want to go to a real party?"_


	6. A Third Class Party

I ended up getting some baked potatoes with some roasted pork and apricots. It wasn't long after I found a place to sit when Tommy came and joined me.

"So what did Jack want?" he asked me.

"He wanted my opinion on his new outfit. There's a First Class passenger who lent him a suit for tonight. He actually cleaned up pretty well if I do say so myself."

"I wonder how he's doing up there."

"Well, if I know him, he's showing Rose how much he likes her in extremely small barely noticeable ways that only she will be able to pick up. As for the others, I have no doubt that he's charmed them all."

"You know, lass, after dinner, we're having a little party down here. We've had a couple now, but I've never seen you at one. I thought Jack would've brought you to one by now."

"I haven't really been in a partying mood lately."

"If that's the case, then you need to come more than ever. Nothing like a little dancing to get your spirits up and your blood pumping!"

"I don't know, Tommy."

"I promise that it will be fun. I'll make sure of that."

The only reason I never went to the parties before was because I knew that I would make a lot of good relationships and I couldn't break Rule #1. But seeing as I had already majorly broken that rule, I figured that going to one party couldn't hurt. It would be nice to switch things up anyway, and if I remembered correctly, Jack would bring Rose down to the party with him. I didn't really want to miss that.

I smiled at him. "Alright, fine. Count me in."

"Excellent! You're going to have a great time! It will be a night you won't forget."

"Let me finish eating, and then I'll go get ready."

Once I finished my food, I returned to my cabin and realized that there wasn't really much I could do to fix myself up. I didn't have any other clothes, nor did I have anything to fix my hair with.

Not long after my pathetic attempts to make myself a bit more presentable, I heard music begin to play and then there was a knock on my door. When I answered it, there stood Tommy.

"I thought I might escort you there, my lady," he said as he extended his arm with an overdramatic bow.

"Oh, my hero rescues me once again," I said as I took his arm with the same overdramatic flair.

He led me back to the General Room and when we stepped inside, I was met with the glorious sight of many people dancing and laughing.

"Oh, I love this kind of music!" I exclaimed, hearing the clear lively Irish tune float around the room from the band.

"A girl after me own heart!" Tommy smiled.

I laughed and we found a place for us to sit. Tommy handed me a beer and I hesitantly took it.

"I'll be honest with you," I said. "I've never had a beer before."

"What?!" Tommy said in disbelief.

"I know, I know, I'm an adult and I've never had a beer. It's shocking."

"Well, I supposed this is a night for 'first times'."

I took a small sip, and I felt as if the liquid was burning a hole in my esophagus. I began choking and coughing. "And now I know why," I rasped.

Tommy laughed and took the glass from me. "I guess that's not for you."

"Hey, Tommy, check out who's coming down the stairs."

He looked over and we both saw Jack escorting Rose down to the lower level of the ship. She looked a bit on edge at such a drastic change in environment, but she looked more excited than anything.

"Looks like that dinner was quite successful," I remarked.

I watched Cora run over to Jack excitedly, and I chuckled as I remembered the promise he had made to her. After sitting Rose down at one of the tables, Jack took Cora's hand and began dancing with her which was one of the cutest things I had ever seen. Fabrizio began dancing with Helga while some other men jumped up onto one the makeshift stage and danced for everyone. While many people in this room couldn't communicate with each other, dancing was a universal language and broke that barrier.

A very fast-paced Irish song began playing, and I loved the way it sounded. I had loved Celtic music ever since I could remember. I took after my dad on that one.

"Shall we dance?" Tommy asked.

"Oh, no, I couldn't. I…I'd be embarrassed."

"Nonsense."

Tommy took my hand and lifted me up from my seat and pulled me close to him. Before I could even protest a little, he led me in a dance all around the room.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do!" I said over the music.

"Neither does anyone here! That's what makes it fun!"

I didn't really know the dance he was trying to do, but I was having fun all the same. I couldn't stop laughing, and before long I could feel my body start to ache from the laughter and the dancing, even though I hadn't been going that long.

The song ended, and we all applauded the band. Breathing heavily, I stood to the side as an even faster Irish song started up.

"I haven't danced like that in a really long time," I said.

"You're a pretty good dancer," Tommy smiled. "Better than most anyway."

"Thanks. I've had some practice." I looked over to where Jack and Rose were. "Tommy," I said as I lightly hit him on the chest. "Look."

We looked over and saw Jack and Rose dancing just as fast as Tommy and I had been dancing not even a few minutes ago. We exchanged shocked looks at the understanding that Jack may actually have a shot with Rose.

I noticed that Rose looked so much more open than when I had seen her last. She was so much more relaxed, and she was actually having fun. I had to say that if I had to choose between life in First Class or life in Third Class, I'd probably choose Third just because they have more freedom to actually have a good time. Besides, I would never fit in with those people up there. Not even remotely. Not when I had a naturally sarcastic attitude.

Fabrizio and Helga got up on the stage and happily danced with each other. Looked like Fabrizio was finding a little romance of his own.

Then Jack pulled a reluctant Rose up on to the stage with him. Jack began doing what looked like a tap dance in time with the music. To be honest, he was average at best, but at least he was trying. Rose watched with amusement, then she took off her own shoes and began doing the same dance.

Again, Tommy and I looked at each other, surprised that someone like Rose had such dancing ability. She was better than Jack!

Jack and Rose held hands and began spinning in circles as they laughed together.

"Come on!" I said, taking Tommy's hand.

"What are you doing?"

"Come _on_!"

He tried to resist me, but I managed to pull him up onto the stage with me. I started doing a fast-paced Irish dance in time with the music, my feet giving satisfying rhythmic clicks on the wooden surface. As I caught sight of Tommy's shocked expression, I silently blessed my mother for forcing me to stick with those Irish dancing lessons throughout middle and high school, and for all the countless times I had watched _Riverdance_ over the years.

When the music changed to a verse, I looked at Tommy and stopped dancing so he could take the next part. We alternated dances several times, and then we faced each other and danced at the same time when the chorus started. I was impressed with his skill level, but it seemed only natural since he was Irish after all.

We got closer and closer, and when the song stopped, I found myself in his arms. We were both breathing heavily from the dance. I could feel both of his arms wrapped firmly around my waist as one of my hands rested on his chest and the other was around his neck. We were close enough to kiss. And the scary part was…I wanted to. I wanted more than anything in that moment to kiss him.

Fortunately, the reasonable side of my brain finally clicked, and I forced myself out of his grasp. He didn't come after me, and for that, I was grateful.

I rubbed my hands over my sweaty face as I grabbed a glass of water. What was I thinking? I could _not_ be falling for Tommy Ryan! We had known each other for a matter of days, and I was the one who felt so strongly that it wasn't possible to develop feelings so fast. I had certainly voiced that opinion many, many times to a lot of people.

Composing myself, I went back to the party. Fabrizio saw me and ran over to me.

"Come, _mia amica_! We dance together!"

I laughed as he took my hand and put his arm around my waist and began dancing with me. I still had no idea what dance he was doing, but I went with it. When the song ended, I was breathing heavily and everything was sore, but I didn't care. I loved it. It was cool to be best friends with the two main guys of the story, not to mention both of them were absolute sweethearts.

Later in the night, I found Tommy in the middle of an arm-wrestling competition with one of the foreign guys who was sharing a room with us.

I went on his left side and touched his shoulder. "Come on, Tommy!" I urged. "You can do it! Don't let him win!"

"Hey, Myndi!" Jack came over to where I was standing and grabbed him and Rose a beer. "This is my closest friend, Myndi," Jack introduced. "Myndi, Rose."

"Nice to formally meet you, Rose," I said, shaking her hand.

"And you as well. I've heard a lot about you."

"Uh-oh, Jack's been talking about me? I'm sure he's told you some crazy tales."

Rose began chugging the beer Jack had given her while Jack and I just stared at her. "What?" she said. "You think a First Class girl can't drink?"

"I'm a Third Class girl, and I can't even drink," I said with a smile.

Rose laughed, but she was cut off when someone who had had a bit too much beer bumped into Jack, causing him to spill his drink all over Rose.

"Get out of here," he barked to the drunken man. "You all right?" he asked Rose.

Rose just started laughing again. "I'm fine."

I turned back to Tommy's competition. "Come on, Tommy! Come on!"

The other man finally pushed Tommy's arm all the way down and beat him in the competition. I groaned in disappointment.

"Two out of three, two out of three!" Tommy demanded, all ready to go again.

"So," Rose interjected. She took Tommy's cigarette out of his mouth and took a puff of it herself. "You think you're big, tough men? Let's see you do this." She took the bottom of her dress and handed it to Jack. "Hold this for me, Jack. Hold it up."

We all watched as she lifted her arms up in a ballet pose and then lifted herself up so she was balancing on the balls of her feet. Then she lifted herself up even higher and balanced on just her toes. Her face contorted with pain, but she managed to hold the pose for a few seconds. Our mouths fell open at her hidden talent. I could see that Tommy was pretty impressed, but he had been more impressed with my split. I kept that to myself.

"Ow!" she yelled as she fell into Jack's arms.

Everyone applauded her trick as she laughed.

"You all right?" Jack asked.

"I haven't done that in years."

"Rose, that was impressive!" I said to her.

"Thank you, miss. That was some dancing you did up there. With that ability, I'm sure there's something you can show these big, tough men too."

"I may have a little something…"

Since I had already showed Tommy the split, I knew I had to think of something else I could do to impress him. It would be hard to do in a dress, but I could make it work. I had before in one of my recitals, so surely I could do it again. I cleared some room for myself, took a deep breath, and did a flawless back handspring. Everyone cheered and applauded for me, including Rose. She didn't seem to mind that all the praise had gone from her to me. In fact, she looked so happy that absolutely nothing could bring her down.

"That was amazing!" she said to me. "Where did you learn to do that?"

"Back when I was in mid…when I was a kid."

"I wish I had learned how to do that."

"Well, I could never do what you just did!" I told her, trying to give her some credit. "I may be able to dance, but unfortunately, I was never gifted at that. That was really incredible."

Another song started up and people grabbed hands and danced in a line all around the room. Fabrizio and Helga joined up and as they passed Rose, Fabrizio grabbed her hand. She quickly grabbed Jack's who then grabbed mine. Unable to resist, I pulled Tommy with me and soon we were all laughing and dancing all around the room.

I couldn't remember the last time I had had so much fun.


	7. Recounting the Day

When the party began to die down, fewer and fewer dancers remained. I had since taken off my shoes since they were really hurting my feet.

"Myndi," Tommy said. "Come with me."

He grabbed my hand and began laughing as he raced out of the room.

"Where are we going?" I called.

He led me out to the deck where it was a clear gorgeous night. It was really cold, but I was so hot from spending all night in the General Room that the cold air felt good on my skin.

"I hope you had a good time tonight," Tommy said.

"You know, I did. Thanks for convincing me to come. It was really fun."

"I had no idea you were such a good dancer. And Irish dancing? It couldn't have been more perfect!"

I laughed lightly. "Why thank you. You weren't so bad yourself."

"My parents taught me. My brothers and I loved getting those dancing lessons at night by the fire. It was what got us through the very long day working on the farm."

"Your parents sound really nice."

"They're a blessing if there ever was one."

I could feel my feet beginning to go numb from the cold deck, but I didn't really mind. I loved walking around barefoot.

We walked around a little bit more before Tommy said, "Why Miss Myndi, I believe this is where you slipped and fell."

" _Almost_ fell," I clarified.

"Oh, right. Because you were lucky enough that I was there."

"You were a bit late. You couldn't have caught me the first time before I knocked myself out?"

"Sorry, lass. I hadn't met you yet. But I was there the second time, wasn't I?"

"I suppose you were. So I guess I can forgive you."

Tommy came closer to me and took my hands in his. "I'll always be there to catch you when you fall."

I could feel my lungs squeeze tight, and I couldn't seem to find words. His forehead was almost touching mine. We were close enough to kiss again.

But I pulled away. I had to.

"I should…be getting back," I said awkwardly. "I'm exhausted."

"I'm sure you are," Tommy said. "That was a lot of dancing you did. Come on, I'll take you back to your room."

He held out his arm for me and, not wanting to appear rude, I took it. We walked back and made casual conversation, choosing to ignore what had just happened between us.

When we reached my room, I turned back to Tommy. "Thank you, sir, for the escort."

"Not a problem. I look forward to seeing you again."

He took my hand and kissed my knuckles, never once breaking eye contact with me. Once again, I started having trouble getting oxygen into my lungs. I gave him a small smile before shutting the door.

This was bad.

Jack returned to the room looking like he was on top of the world. He was smiling ear to ear, and of course I knew why. He was head-over-heels in love with Rose. How he could fall so hard after knowing this girl for about a day made no sense to me.

"You look happy," I remarked. "Now, come on. I want to know everything that happened tonight."

Jack and I went up on the top bunk and let our legs hang over the side.

"Tonight was just…amazing," he started. "I saw Rose at the top of the steps and she looked so beautiful. Absolutely stunning. I mean, you saw her tonight. Didn't she look flawless?"

"I get it. She looks great. Continue."

"Well, we started dinner, and Rose's mother was determined to make me look bad. She really doesn't like anyone who isn't from First Class."

"Why do you say that?"

"I believe her first question was, 'Tell us of the accommodations in steerage, Mr. Dawson. I hear they're quite good on this ship'."

I laughed as he mocked her in a falsetto voice. "What did you say?"

"The truth. These are the best because there's hardly any rats. Then I kind of talked about the two of us and what we do and how we travel."

"You mentioned me?"

"Of course I did."

"I hope you only said nice things."

"Nice enough. Anyway, then Rose's mother asks, 'And the both of you find that sort of rootless existence appealing, do you?' So I told her that it's not so bad because we have each other and we get to wake up every day not knowing what's going to happen to us. Between the two of us, we have everything we could ever need."

Jack had an amazing outlook on life. Here he was, poorer than dirt, and he was nothing but happy. Meanwhile, at home, my roommate and I would sit and complain about such trivial things, like having to clean our apartment or cook some dinner. Yet Jack had nothing. Nothing but the clothes on his back and his sketchpad, and he still found a way to live life fully.

"After dinner was over, I brought Rose down to the party, and we danced together all night. I just got back from taking her back to her room. Well, as far as I could go anyway. We talked and looked up at the stars. I swear, for a moment, I thought she was going to kiss me."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah…but I think she's still worried about our different classes. So she pulled back and left. I'm going to try to get back and see her tomorrow."

"How? You're still Third Class."

"Well, if I got up there once, maybe I can get up there again."

"You can try. I won't stop you from doing that. Especially since I know that I couldn't even if I wanted to."

"You're right."

"Well, I'm glad you had such a good time with her. This really is the 'Ship of Dreams'."

"Speaking of which…I saw you and Tommy together. Care to share?"

"It's nothing."

"Oh, it's something. It's never nothing with you."

"Okay, maybe he's kind of into me. We talked and stuff while you were off with Rose all day, and then we had dinner and he invited me to the party."

"Oh, so you come when _he_ invites you, but not when your best friend does."

"He was really convincing, okay? Anyway, I love Irish music, and since he's from Ireland, he ate that up, and he insisted I dance with him."

"Okay, and what about all of that impressive dancing on the stage with him? I believe that was you who pulled him up there."

"I saw you and Rose dancing together, and I wanted to do it too."

"We had nothing on those moves you were doing up there. And doing that backflip later? I think that you wanted to impress him."

"Well, you would be wrong."

"Really? Then what was all that when the song was over? You think I didn't notice how you two were looking at each other? You were practically begging him to kiss you."

"I was not!"

"Anything else happen after the party was over?"

"He took me out on the deck and we talked for a little bit, and then he walked me back."

"And…?"

"And what?"

"What are you leaving out?"

"Nothing."

"I know when you're lying."

"Okay, fine! He may have gotten close to me at one point, and almost kissed me. You happy?"

"I'll be happier when you admit that you like him."

"Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but that's not going to happen. There's nothing more between us."

"You two almost kissed twice. That clearly means there's something there."

"Well, if there is, then that's too bad. Because I won't let anything happen."

"You are so difficult. I can't understand why he even fell for you."

"Yeah. I was wondering the same thing about Rose."


	8. Myndi and Tommy

_As Rose let Trudy lace up her corset, her mind kept traveling back to last night and her earlier encounter with Cal. All that time she had spent with Jack had been the best time of her life. And seeing Myndi so free and happy made her long for a life just like hers. Free from people like Cal who felt they could control her every thought._

 _The door opened and her mother stepped in. "Tea, Trudy," she said shortly._

 _"_ _Yes, ma'am," Trudy answered timidly. She stepped away, and her mother began lacing up the corset. It wasn't hard to see that she wasn't in a good mood as usual because she started lacing it up tighter and with more force._

 _"_ _You're not to see that boy or that girl again, do you understand me?" When Rose didn't answer, she said firmly, "Rose, I forbid it."_

 _"_ _Oh, stop it, Mother," Rose sighed. "You'll give yourself a nosebleed."_

 _Her mother whipped her around. "This is not a game. Our situation is precarious. You know the money's gone."_

 _"_ _Of course I know it's gone. You remind me every day."_

 _"_ _Your father left us nothing but a legacy of bad debts hidden by a good name. That name is the only card we have to play. I don't understand you. It is a fine match with Hockley. It will ensure our survival."_

 _Rose didn't want to survive. She wanted to live. "How can you put this on my shoulders?" She wanted to tell her mother how fearsome Cal had been to her not long ago, and how much he had truly scared her. But she knew that it would just fall on deaf ears._

 _"_ _Why are you being so selfish?"_

 _"_ I'm _being selfish?" Rose asked in disbelief. Her mother was the one who never seemed to care how she ever felt!_

 _"_ _Do you want to see me working as a seamstress? Is that what you want?" her mother asked quietly. Rose sighed to herself. Her mother was going to guilt her into the marriage yet again with tears. "To see our fine things sold at auction? Our memories scattered to the winds?" She turned and put her hand to her mouth._

 _Rose sighed again. While she didn't want to lose what good memories she had, she couldn't stop thinking about Jack and Myndi. They had no 'fine things', no 'memories' they could hold in their hands, and yet they were both happy. Myndi was free to do whatever she wanted, and she had Jack by her side throughout it all. She could marry someone she loved. She wasn't bound down by the rules of society. She didn't have someone telling her to make a name for herself._

 _"_ _It's so unfair," Rose sighed._

 _"_ _Of course it's unfair. We're women. Our choices are never easy." She lightly kissed her daughter on the cheek before resuming lacing up the corset._

 _Her mother must've heard about her late night adventure from Cal. She was disgusted that he had sent Lovejoy to find her. He simply didn't trust her. What kind of marriage would that be where she wasn't even allowed a little bit of freedom to go and do things on her own without someone constantly keeping tabs on her?_

 _And now that her mother knew that she was friends with Myndi as well as Jack, she was cutting off those ties. It was so frustrating. She couldn't even choose her own friends. She had to be friends with only the highest in society. Myndi was nice to her despite their difference in class and age. She was open and honest and she was gorgeous, even in that inexpensive dress she wore. While Rose could have anything her heart desired, she felt like given the choice, she would trade it all away to get to experience what Jack and Myndi had._

* * *

"I don't think I've ever hated being in Third Class so much," Jack lamented to me after his failed attempt to see Rose.

"I'm sorry, Jack. We're just not part of their world."

"If she had just seen me, then maybe I could've spoken to her."

"Not with Cal and Lovejoy there. Ugh, those men are thorns in the side of this world. Have I mentioned that I want to toss them both overboard? Or at least kill them with my sharp words."

"I've got to see her, Myndi. I just have to. I need to tell her exactly how I feel."

"You've known her for two days."

"I've never been more sure of anything. Just trust me, okay?"

I sighed, knowing there was no way to talk him out of it. "Fine. What do you need me to do?"

"I need to get to First Class without anyone seeing me, especially Cal or Lovejoy. Just long enough to find Rose. If I'm with her, I should be fine."

We started heading towards the First Class deck and ended up passing Tommy and Fabrizio along the way.

"Where you headed?" Tommy asked.

"Jack is going to see Rose, and I can't make him see sense."

By now, we had just reached the sign telling Third Class passengers they were not allowed on the deck.

"She's a goddess amongst mortal men, there's no denying," Tommy said to Jack. "But she's in another world, Jack, just forget her. She's up there closing the door. Forget her."

Jack hopped up on a part of the ship to see the deck. He looked around frantically, and I had never seen him so determined before.

"He's not being logical, I tell you," Tommy said.

" _Amore_ is not logical," Fabrizio answered.

"You got that right," I chimed in. "Tommy, you said that yourself."

Tommy and Fabrizio lifted up Jack's legs and hoisted him up onto the First Class deck. He went off as fast as he could before he got caught.

As we were all about to return to our own deck, one of the officers caught us.

"Hey, you!" he barked. "Get back where you belong!"

"We go, we go!" Fabrizio said quickly holding his hands up in surrender as we all went back down the stairs.

"Touchy," I muttered.

"Come on, lass," Tommy said, taking my hand. "Let's go somewhere we're actually wanted."

" _Si_ , and I've got my own girl waiting for me," Fabrizio laughed before bounding off to find Helga.

I chuckled. "Everyone's getting some romance on this ship."

"Everyone?" Tommy asked.

Why had I said that? I walked right into this one. I suddenly wished we could hit the iceberg right now so I could avoid this conversation.

"Jack and Fabrizio anyway," I said, hoping he would just drop it.

"What about you?"

"Me? Well…"

"Myndi…I can't put it off any longer. When I first met you, I knew right then that you were the girl for me. I love the way you talk and how you say words that I've never even heard of. I love how sure you are of yourself and that you don't let anyone stop you from doing what you want."

"Tommy…"

"You're the most incredible girl I've ever met. Calling you a goddess doesn't even come close to describing how I see you."

He leaned in close to me, and I knew right then that he was finally going to kiss me. But for so many reasons, I couldn't let him do it. I put my hands to his chest and gently pushed him away from me.

"I can't."

I quickly walked away from him and back to my room where I stayed, wishing that I had never spoken to Tommy Ryan in the first place.

Jack came into the room some time after the confrontation with Tommy looking like he had just lost the lottery. Which in his case, he basically had.

"How'd your talk with Rose go?" I asked.

"About as good as yours," he answered. When he saw my confused expression, he continued, "Tommy told me what happened."

I looked away from Jack. "He wasn't supposed to fall for me."

"Did you fall for him?"

"I can't fall for him."

"Yes, you can. You just have to let yourself."

"Jack…you don't know me."

"Yes, I do."

"No, you don't. At least…not as well as you think you do."

Jack paused. "I know you well enough to know that this has to do with what happened with Nate."

I looked up at him. It had never occurred to me that Jack would know the reason why I couldn't fall for Tommy. It wasn't just because I knew what was going to happen in a few hours. There was a lot more to it than that.

"I watched him hurt you, and it tore me apart," Jack said. "You're like a sister to me, so seeing you so beat up after what he did to you was something I'll never get over. But I don't want you to completely give up on everyone. Not everyone out there will do what he did. I promise. And from what I've seen, Tommy likes you and you like him. Don't let what happened with Nate ruin the amazing thing you could have with Tommy."

I had not expected that to come out of his mouth at all. I hated it, but I knew that he was right. I could deny it as much as I wanted. The solid truth was that I had fallen hard for Tommy Ryan.

Jack left, and judging from the time, I guessed he went up to the bow.

To my surprise, I saw Rose walking along the Third Class decks.

"Myndi, thank goodness it's you," she said as she caught sight of me. "I'm looking for Jack. Do you know where he is?"

"I think he's at the bow. You could look for him there."

"Thank you! I…I wanted to ask you something. I…have feelings for Jack. Feelings I didn't even know I was capable of having. I know you're both really close, so I was just wondering…is it okay with you? You know, if we…"

"Rose," I stopped her. "Trust me, there's nothing more between me and Jack. He's all yours. I couldn't be happier that he's found someone like you."

Rose smiled warmly and went to go find Jack. I smiled to myself, knowing that the ever famous 'I'm flying!' scene was coming up. Maybe it wasn't as silly as I had initially thought...

Meanwhile, I went looking for Tommy. The sky had turned to a gorgeous pink and orange, and it was so beautiful that it seemed to be mocking what I knew was to come.

It didn't take long before I found him leaning against the railing, looking out at the ocean.

"Myndi," he said when he saw me. "I thought after what happened, I wouldn't see you again for the rest of the voyage."

"Listen, Tommy…there's something you need to know about me."

He turned and gave me his full attention, slightly nodding to tell me to go on. I could see how concerned he was and curious to know what I was going to tell him. I picked my words out carefully, making sure to explain things in terms he would understand.

"I've only been in one relationship before. It started out great. He told me that he loved me, and I was so much in love with him. At least, I thought that's how it was. I went away to visit some family for a while, and…I ended up coming back a couple days earlier than I had planned. And I found him…being, um, quite intimate…with another girl. In my own house. I had never felt so…betrayed, humiliated…worthless. It took me months to get over that. Ever since then, I have pushed away all thoughts of forming any kind of romantic involvement with another man. Because I am terrified that something like that will happen to me again. And to be honest, I don't know if my heart could take it."

I looked away from him in shame, a part of me wondering if he would still like me now that he knew what had happened in my last relationship. Another part of me hoped he wouldn't because that would just make it easier when the ship started sinking. Yet another part of me worried that if he did go away, I would never truly heal from the combinations of both wounds.

"Myndi, look at me," Tommy said, taking my chin in his hand and gently forcing me to look up at him. I saw nothing but compassion for me in his eyes, and it filled me with an emotion I couldn't quite place. "I am so sorry you had to go through such a thing. You are far too perfect for something like that to happen. But just because that happened once doesn't mean it will happen again. I promise you that I won't ever hurt you like that. I told you that I'll always catch you when you fall, and that means emotionally too. He hurt you, and that means that I am going to be there to help you up again so you can start healing. I promise."

They say the eyes are windows to the soul. And as I looked into his eyes, I knew that he was telling the complete truth. Nate had destroyed me, but Tommy was there to pick up the pieces. I felt things for him that I had never felt for Nate, even though I had been sure that I had loved him.

"You know, it's crazy…but I believe you."

Even though every fiber of my being screamed for me not to, I went closer to him and we kissed. I kissed him passionately, feeling more for him than I had ever felt for Nate. His arms wound around my waist, pulling me towards him as my own arms encircled his neck to pull him towards me.

I had broken Rule #1 more than I ever imagined I would. But I couldn't find it within me to care.


	9. The Sinking Begins

I was on top of the world. After my kiss with Tommy, I don't think I had ever been happier before. I was so happy, I wasn't even thinking about what was going to happen in a matter of hours.

Tommy ran through the Third Class hallways with me on his back and wearing his brown bowler hat as we both laughed together. We crashed into a couple people, but we never stopped to apologize. That was probably rude, but things were about to go south for us fast. I figured I owed myself some happiness for now after constantly denying it from myself this whole time.

We ended up back in the General Room and Tommy set me down. There were hardly any people since mostly everyone was asleep by now.

"Care for a dance, lass?"

"But there's no music."

"Oh, come on now. Such a talented dancer as yourself surely doesn't need music."

He put his hand around my waist and took my hand in his. He led me in a slow ballroom dance around the room, something I had never done formally. My experience in ballroom dancing went as far as dancing on my dad's feet when I was little.

Suddenly, the piano started playing a soft melody that went perfectly with our dance. I looked over to find a young man sitting at the piano, smiling at us. I looked back at Tommy and saw an affection for me in his eyes that I had never seen in Nate's. That's how I knew that what he felt for me was genuine.

Soon, a couple more instruments joined the piano as we continued to dance. It was a far cry from our last dance, but I loved it all the same. Another song started up and more couples began dancing along with us. But as Tommy and I locked eyes, I didn't even notice them.

After several dances, I took his hand and led him outside of the General Room. Once there, I leaned against the wall as I interlocked my fingers with his. Then we shared several warm kisses as people passed by with either small laughs or grumbles of annoyance.

"Why don't we go somewhere a little more private?" I whispered in his ear.

He smiled at me and we went inside a small closet where the stewards kept some of the few supplies for Third Class. It was small, but it wasn't horribly cramped.

Tommy wrapped his arms around me and began kissing me again. I kissed him back with more passion than I expected to come from me considering how much I believed it was impossible to fall for someone so fast. We began kissing with more and more fervor. He lifted me up, and then placed me on one of the shelves as my legs wrapped around his waist. His lips traveled down to my neck and shoulders as my hands ran through his curly blond hair. The sleeves of my dress came off my shoulders. His hands were tightly pressing into my body as if trying to memorize all of my curves and how exactly I felt. The bowler hat lay forgotten on the floor on the closet.

To be honest, had the moment continued, I can't say for sure what would've happened. A part of me knew that I wanted to save this kind of intimacy until I was married. But the other part of me knew that with the events about to transpire, it was now or never.

Regardless, nothing more happened between us. Because at that moment, the ship began shuddering and we were forced to pull apart.

It was the beginning of the nightmare that no one was going to forget.

"What was that?" Tommy asked.

He opened the closet door and we stepped out. Luckily, everyone was so distracted by what had happened with the ship that no one noticed a boy and a girl coming out of a supply closet looking rather disheveled. I knew what they would all start thinking. I mean, it's what I would've thought.

My heart dropped as I realized that water was beginning to build up on the floor. This was it. We'd hit the iceberg and the sinking had begun.

"Come on!" Tommy said, firmly taking my hand.

We ran back to his cabin and he grabbed his coat and his bag. Then he hurried back out the door and began running up the hall. The frigid water was coming up fast and I knew we had to get out of Third Class if we wanted a chance to live.

Up ahead, I saw Fabrizio and the other people we were bunking with step out of our room.

"Come on!" Tommy yelled. "Let's get out of here! Come on, hurry up!"

Fabrizio and I grabbed what few possessions we had, and then the three of us started trying to find a way out.

The water was quickly trickling into the hallways and covering the floor. It was already up to my ankles. Ahead of us, several rats were scurrying away from the oncoming water. They had no more chance of survival than any of us did.

"If this is the direction the rats are running, that's good enough for me," Tommy remarked, throwing on his sweater as we walked.

Several stewards came down and began handing out life vests as we all continued to run down the cramped hallway. Unfortunately, there was only one left for us. Tommy quickly grabbed it from the steward.

"Here, lass," Tommy said, handing it to me.

"No, you take it," I insisted.

"No, you need it more than I do."

"Tommy, please, take the life vest. I'll be fine."

Not wanting to waste time arguing, Tommy relented and put the life vest on. Normally, I would've taken it, but I wasn't meant to be here anyway, and I didn't want to take the vest from someone who actually did use it in the movie. I just hoped that I could get on a lifeboat with Tommy. Our chances were slim, but it was possible if we tried.

Tommy kept a tight hold of my hand as we all ran to the stairwell that was crowded with people because the stewards had closed the gate, forbidding Third Class members from going up to the Main Deck where all the lifeboats were. I hadn't really minded being in Third Class until now when our lives were at stake.

"Wait here," Tommy said to me at the bottom of the steps. I nodded, and then he forced his way up to the top to try to get the stewards to open the gate. Fabrizio went to go check on the boats from a door on the Third Class hall and see if there were any left for us.

"What are we doing, mummy?" I heard a small voice ask.

I turned to find a young boy and girl with their mother. The mother said to her little boy tenderly, "We're just waiting, dear. When they finish putting First Class people in the boats, they'll be starting with us, and we'll want to be all ready, won't we?"

It hit me that we all had very little chance of survival because of our class. In fact, most of the people who died on the ship were Third Class because they never were allowed out. This mother was attempting to comfort her children, but I could see it in her eyes. She knew very well that it was highly unlikely she and her children were going to leave this boat alive.

"You can't keep us locked in here like animals!" I heard Tommy yell to the steward. "The ship's bloody sinking!"

After a pause, the steward ordered, "Bring forward the women! Unlock the gates. Women only! No men!"

It was useless. As soon as the gates were unlocked, men flooded through them trying to get off the ship before they drowned. The stewards forcefully pushed them back, hitting them with the blunt end of an axe to get them back before the gate.

It was too chaotic, and the gates were locked once more.

"For God's sake, man, there are women and children down here!" Tommy screamed. "Let us up so we can have a chance!"

"Get back!" the steward yelled.

"Myndi!"

I turned to find Jack and Rose running up to me. "Jack!" I cried, hugging the two of them. "Rose! You're both alright!"

"Are you okay?" Jack asked.

"I'm fine!"

"Jack!" a voice said as someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to find Helga with her parents.

"Helga! Hey! Where's Fabrizio?"

She pointed in the direction Fabrizio had gone to check on the boats.

"Jack!" Tommy called, forcing his way through the throng of people. He took my hand in his again.

"Tommy!" Jack exclaimed. "Can we get out?"

"It's hopeless that way!"

"Whatever we do, we've got to do it fast."

"Jack! Myndi!"

Jack and I turned and saw Fabrizio running towards us.

"Fabrizio!" Jack said, hugging his friend.

"The boats are all going!"

"The whole place is flooding. We've gotta get out of here."

"There is _niente_ this way!"

"All right. Let's go this way, all right? Come on!"

"No! Jack! Jack, _aspetta_!" Fabrizio turned to Helga and her family. Speaking slowly, he tried to tell her, "Everyone, you come with me. We go! The boats. They're going!"

"Can we go?" Helga asked her parents.

Helga's father angrily said something in Norwegian to Fabrizio, but Fabrizio desperately kept trying to convince him that they needed to leave and that they were going to try to find a lifeboat.

"Come. We go to the boats. In the boats. _Capito_? Come now!"

Helga again tried to get her father to come with us, but he again refused. She turned back to Fabrizio sadly.

"Helga, _per favore_ , you come with me now. I am lucky. Is my destiny to go to America. Please."

Her father shook his head yet again. Helga passionately kissed Fabrizio and my heart tore at the sign of affection. I didn't remember any of this. I didn't remember Helga at all. I didn't remember that Fabrizio found a love of his own.

"Come!" he shouted. He pulled on her hand, but she did not go with him. Her eyes were torn between her love for her family and her love for him. It hurt, but I could see that she was choosing her family.

Jack put his hand on Fabrizio's shoulder. "Come on." When he could not tear himself away from her, Jack pulled him roughly. "Come on! We gotta go!"

"I will never forget you," Fabrizio said to her. Tommy gripped my hand and the five of us ran down the hallway, leaving a tearful Helga behind.


	10. Finding a Lifeboat

Jack continued going down the hallway until he came to another one that said it would lead to the E Deck.

"Come on!" Tommy yelled.

"No, come on," Jack said, leading us into the hallway. "Let's go this way."

We passed a woman who was crying on the ground and several people who were trying to translate the signs and figure out where to go. It was no wonder most of Third Class drowned. A lot of them were foreigners who didn't understand English and couldn't read the signs or understand the instructions the stewards gave them.

"This way," Jack ordered. We all went up some stairs and came upon another locked gate with yet another steward in front of it who had this really annoying snooty accent. Just hearing him talk made me want to punch him in the face.

"It'll all get sorted out there. Go back to the main stairwell," he said to the people crowding in front of the gate.

Jack pushed his way to the front. "Open the gate," he said firmly to the steward.

"Go back down the main stairwell."

"Open the gate right now!"

"Go back down the main stairwell like I told you!"

We all sighed, realizing that we were at yet another dead end. If this kept up, none of us would have a chance. Jack grabbed the gate and screamed curses at the steward. Completely fed up, he furiously looked around him.

"Fabri, Tommy, give me a hand here!" he said as he started lifting up one of the benches. It was built into the floor so the three of them and one other man all began lifting it out of the floor with all their strength.

"Move aside. Move aside," Rose said to all of the other people.

I realized what they were doing, and started helping Rose. "Come on, move if you want to get out of here!"

"Come on, pull!" Jack yelled. They finally all got the bench off the floor and moved in front of the gate.

"Put that down!" the steward said. "Put that down!"

"One! Two! Three!" Everyone rammed the bench into the gate as hard as they could. When the gate didn't break, they moved back and Jack yelled, "Again!" They rammed the bench at the gate again and it broke down just enough for us all to get through. "Let's go!"

Fabrizio went first followed by Jack. Tommy helped Rose and I over the bench and then came through himself.

"You can't go up there!" the steward yelled at us. "You can't do this!"

Tommy punched the steward hard in the face, tired of listening to his orders. I pressed my hand to my mouth and tried to suppress a laugh.

"Tommy," I said as I attempted not to smile. "That was very, very wrong."

Tommy saw how hard I was trying to keep it together and gave a light smile. "He was asking for it."

We continued through the hallways until we all finally made it out to the Main Deck where the lifeboats were.

"Come on, Rose!" Jack said.

Tommy still had a firm grip on my hand which I held tightly, making every precious moment I had left with him count.

"The boats are gone!" Rose exclaimed, seeing no more lifeboats on this side of the ship. Jack tried to get higher to see farther, but it didn't look like he had much luck.

"Colonel!" Rose said to an older, well-dressed gentleman. "Are there any boats on that side?"

"No, miss, but there are a couple of boats all the way forward," he answered. "This way, I'll lead you."

None of us waited for him, and we took off through the crowds ourselves. As we continued running, we passed by a small orchestra playing some lively music. I remembered reading about them. The men who nobly played until the very end.

"Music to drown by. Now I know I'm in First Class," Tommy remarked.

I laughed lightly. "Only you could crack a joke as the ship goes down."

We made it to a place where boats were still being lowered away. I flinched as one of the officers let out some gunshots to keep everyone under control.

"Women and children only! Get back!" an officer yelled to the panicking crowd. "Step back, sir. Come through, madam." A woman was pulled forward, and she was able to board the boat.

As I looked around me, men and women were kissing each other before they were ripped apart since men still weren't allowed on the boats. I knew that the couples were most likely never going to be reunited.

One of the officers took a little girl from her father. "Give her to me." He placed the girl into the boat with what looked like her mother and sister.

"Daddy!" the girl cried.

"It'll be fine, darling," her father tried to reassure the two crying children. "Don't you worry. It's good-bye for a little while. Only for a little while. There'll be another boat for the daddies. This boat's for the mummies and the children. You hold Mummy's hand and be a good little girl."

My heart clenched as the family was torn away from their husband and father. As much as the father tried to console them, the trembling of his voice betrayed his words, and he knew that he wasn't going to make it.

"You'd better check the other side," Jack said to me, Tommy, and Fabrizio. "Go!"

Tommy gripped my hand and the three of us ran to the other side of the ship to see if we could board a boat. We forced ourselves to the front of the crowd where the officers were quickly trying to get another lifeboat down from the ship and get it up and loaded.

I looked at Tommy with desperation and even though I knew it was stupid, I decided to break Rule #2. "I can't get off this ship without you."

"Myndi, you have to."

"No! I will get off only when I know that you have gotten off safely as well."

"Please, lass!"

"Don't argue with me! You know it's pointless."

Tommy allowed himself to smile and firmly kissed me, his warm lips providing relief from the cold air. The officers began loading up the lifeboat, but I refused to get in without Tommy. I couldn't bring myself to do it. Not after everything we'd been through together.

"Stay back!" one of the officers screamed as he waved his gun at us.

"Will you give us a chance to live?" Tommy screamed.

"I'll shoot any man who tries to get past me. Get back!" Cal came running up next to us, but the officer just continued to point his gun at him. "Get _back_!"

Cal went up to the officer. "We had a deal," he said firmly.

The officer took a wad of cash out of his pocket and threw it in Cal's face. "Your money can't save you any more than it can save me. Get back!"

I was furious at both of those men: Cal for being so low as to bribe an officer in order to get off the ship, and the officer for actually taking the bribe. At least the officer realized that the money was no good to him by this point. No one knew who was going to live and who was going to die. Money wouldn't help anyone.

People behind me were pushing into me, and I was having a hard time keeping my feet on the ground. One of the men tried to climb over people to get into the lifeboat, but the officer shot at him.

Then another man tried to do the same thing, but he fell into Tommy. Tommy got pushed forward, and the officer thought that it was another man trying to push his way into the lifeboat.

And he fired his gun in Tommy's direction.


	11. Tommy Dies

Tommy fell to the deck at the powerful shot as I screamed in horror. "NO! TOMMY! Tommy, no!"

I held him in my arms and looked up at the officer who had shot him. He had a look in his eyes that told me he was terrified of what he had just done. I looked back at Tommy and gently stroked his blond curls. Blood poured down the deck from the gunshot wound as more blood came from his mouth from his internal injuries.

When I looked at the officer, I saw that he was holding his gun to his head. Of course, I was angry at him for shooting the person I had such strong feelings for, the first person to ever have a true attraction towards me, but we were going to have enough loss of life. We didn't need to add one more to list of the dead.

"No!" I exclaimed, but I was too late. He shot the gun and fell into the icy water to join the others who were going to die in the watery grave.

For the first time in years, I cried. My hands and my dress got covered in Tommy's blood, but I didn't care. He gave me a weak smile and held my hand. Then his eyes closed, and his body stilled. I held him tightly in my arms and I sobbed my heart out.

Time seemed to slow down around me. As I heard the orchestra begin to play _Nearer My God to Thee_ , I thought about what was happening around me. Right now below me, an old couple was lying on their bed together as the water rushed into the room, treasuring their final moments as husband and wife. A mother was telling a story to her two children to get them to sleep, praying that their death was quick. Little Cora, the girl who considered Jack and I family, was nowhere to be found, and I could only assume the worst. Many, many Third Class members were below me, unable to get up to the lifeboats, and were now drowning as the water filled the bottom of the ship.

In that moment, I realized how much I failed to understand the true horror of this tragedy. Holding a lifeless Tommy in my arms, it hit me how awful and heartless I had been for all of those who had perished on the ship.

"I sorry, _mio tesoro_ ," Fabrizio said gently as he touched my shoulder. "Please take life vest."

"No," I answered softly, keeping my tearfilled eyes on Tommy. It seemed so impossible that just a little while ago, he was cracking jokes. Just a little while ago, he was kissing me.

" _Per favore_ , Myndi."

"I will not wear anything with his blood on it!" He looked at me sadly. I finally looked up at him. "You take it. Save yourself."

I helped him take off Tommy's life vest, and he then tied it around himself. Water was quickly rushing up to us and it was now almost at my waist. I knew that if I wanted to survive, I couldn't stay here.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to Tommy. I placed a firm kiss on his forehead, and then I got up and left his body which I can safely say was the hardest thing I'd ever had to do. But I had to go where the water had not reached yet. He would want me to at least try to make it out.

The orchestra finished playing their song, and I heard the violinist say, "Gentlemen, it has been a privilege playing with you tonight."

I walked up to where they all were. "Thank you," I said numbly to them.

They all sadly looked at me, surprised from both my appearance and the fact that I was thanking them for playing. After all, no one else had bothered to do so. Who would in the midst of a ship going down?

The water was quickly approaching, but I hoped that they could do one last thing for me. "Could you please play _An Irish Blessing_?"

The violinist slowly nodded. "Men, _An Irish Blessing_ in C."

They all began to play the song, and I sang the lyrics along in my head:

 _May the road rise to meet you_

 _May the wind be always at your back_

 _May the sun shine warm upon your face_

 _The rains fall soft upon your fields_

 _And until we meet again_

 _Until we meet again_

 _May God hold you in the palm of His hand_

 _And until we meet again_

 _Until we meet again_

 _May God hold you in the palm of His hand_

I couldn't give Tommy a proper burial, but I felt that the song that I used to hear my mom sing to me when I was little was a perfect way to send him off.

I wasn't able to stay for the whole song as much as I wanted to. I tried to keep tabs on Fabrizio in the hopes that we could both get to safety, or at least make sure that he did. He cut some of the ropes to free the lifeboats and save more people.

Water broke the windows to the Grand Staircase and people started getting swept into the room where they were sure to drown. Fabrizio was among them, but he managed to hang on to the window frame and swim away. He then tried to swim to one of the lifeboats to save himself like I had told him to.

A horrible groaning sound alerted me to one of the smokestacks. The cables holding it up snapped off and with the amount of force they came off and snapped into the water, it had to have decapitated at least one person. The smokestack started falling towards the water. It was hard to see, but I knew Fabrizio was in the water right where it was falling.

"FABRIZIO!" I screamed.

He turned just in time to see the smokestack fall right on him. I flinched in horror as yet another one of my close friends was killed. More tears found their way to my cheeks at the loss of my friend. However, I had barely any time to mourn. Knowing that Jack and Rose would be at the very back of the ship, I fought through the throng of people, my grief causing me to push people quite forcefully out of my way.

People around me were either jumping or falling off the side of the ship into the frigid water below.

I was only wearing my dress because I had never been able to get any other kind of covering, so I was freezing cold. But I didn't even notice because I was so upset about losing Tommy and Fabrizio.

I could feel the ship rising up, and I was started to lose my ground. After a lot of pushing and shoving, I could finally see Jack and Rose clinging onto the railing.

"Jack! Rose!" I called.

"Myndi!" Jack yelled. "Come on! Grab my hand!"

Jack and Rose extended their hands that weren't grasping the railing and pulled me up to them.

"What happened?" Jack asked, noticing the fact that the lower half of my body was soaking wet, I was covered in blood, and I was crying my eyes out.

"Tommy and Fabrizio. They're both dead," I mustered out.

Jack closed his eyes for a second, taking in the fact that his two friends had joined the other poor souls who were not making it off Titanic.

I saw that Helga and her father were next to us, and from the look on her face, I could tell that she understood what I had said. Maybe not exactly, but she grasped the main idea.

As the ship lifted higher and higher, people began sliding down the deck into the water where they were pulled under from the suction. One man climbed over the railing and fell into the water below where he surely died from hitting the water at such a great height. Another man also fell, but hit the propeller on his way down, probably breaking his legs before he hit the water.

"I didn't get it," I said tearfully as I hung onto the railing for dear life.

"Didn't get what?" Jack asked me.

"All of this. I didn't get it. I just didn't understand. How could I have been so heartless?"

I knew that he didn't have the slightest idea what I was talking about, but I was too upset to care. The tragedy that was Titanic was so much worse than I had realized. Why didn't I see that? Why had I been so blind?

Jack held onto Rose as the ship continued to rise up out of the water. Suddenly, all of the lights on the ship went out, and we were enveloped in darkness with the only source of light being the moon up above us.

I heard a loud cracking sound, and I realized that the ship was splitting in half! Once enough of the ship had split, the back half plunged back into the water with a teeth-jarring crash, killing everyone in the water below us. With the two halves of the ship still attached, the back half once again began to lift out of the water.

"We have to move!" Jack yelled.

Knowing what he wanted Rose and I to do, I mustered up as much strength as I could to pull myself on the other side of the railing.

"Come on!" Jack yelled to Rose. "Give me your hand! Give me your hand!" Rose took his hand and started pulling herself over. "I've got you. I won't let go. Come on, I've got you!"

I helped Jack pull Rose up on the railing with us as the ship went straight up in the air.

"What's happening, Jack?" Rose asked.

"I don't know. I don't know!"

By now, the ship was just bobbing like a cork as people slid down the deck. The ones who had been hanging onto the railing were now losing their grip and falling to their deaths, taking several other people with them.

I looked over at Helga who was trying her hardest to hang onto the railing. I was too far away to help her, and she lost her grip. I looked away as she fell the long way down.

Rose looked at me with terror in her eyes. Tears were still flowing down my cheeks from losing Tommy and Fabrizio. Neither of us said anything.

The ship began to sink down into the water again.

"This is it!" Jack yelled. "Hold on!"

I watched in horror as the frigid water got closer and closer to us.

"The ship is going to suck us down. Take a deep breath when I say. Kick for the surface and keep kicking. Do not let go of my hand. Myndi, you do the same. Keep kicking. We're going to make it. Trust me."

"I trust you," Rose yelled.

"I do too!" I cried.

"Ready? Ready? Now!"

I took the biggest breath I possibly could, filling my lungs up with as much air as they would hold, and was sucked beneath the water.


	12. Never Let Go

It's impossible to describe how I felt when I went under. The water was freezing cold and felt like pins and needles stabbing deep into my flesh all at once. My entire body went numb on contact, but I knew that I had to force myself to move if I wanted to live. I could feel myself getting pulled down deeper into the water. Terrified, I kicked for the surface with all my might, my lungs quickly running out of air.

Finally, I felt the cold air on my face and took some very deep breaths to refill my emptied lungs. The combination of the cold water and air made my throat hurt a lot.

"Jack!" I screamed. "Rose!" I frantically spun around, searching for the only people I had left. "Jack! Rose!"

As I looked around me at all of the screaming people, I knew there were hundreds of us in the icy water, frantically trying to find some way to stay afloat before we all froze to death. I would've cried some more, but no tears would come to my frozen face.

"Myndi!"

I turned and saw Jack swimming to me. He hugged me for a second, and I treasured the body heat, however little it was.

"Come on!" he said urgently. "Let's find Rose!"

We swam around for a little bit, my body all the while attempting to forbid me from making any sort of movement the longer I stayed in the water. I felt as if my blood was slowly freezing over.

"Rose!" Jack yelled. The two of us swam over to where a man was plunging Rose underwater to try to stay above the water himself. "Get off her! Get off her!" Jack punched the man three times to get him to let go of Rose. "Swim, Rose! I need you to swim! Keep swimming!"

The three of us swam away from all of the panicking people in the water.

"It's so cold!" Rose cried out.

"Swim, Rose!"

We continued swimming as best as we could until Jack found a floating door with no occupants.

"Come on. Here. Keep swimming. Come on."

Rose hefted herself up onto the door.

"Myndi, get on," Jack said.

I tried to get on the door with Rose, but just like I knew would happen, the door overturned.

"There's only enough room for one," I said. "Rose, get on."

"No, Myndi. Please, you get on."

"Rose, I'm not getting on that door. So either you do, or none of us do."

Rose relented and climbed up on the door, gasping for breath. As we took heaving breaths, small clouds came from our mouths.

"Stay on it," Jack said. "Stay on it, Rose."

Jack swam around to the front of the door to face Rose while I stayed on the side of her. A man started swimming towards us. Jack spun around at the sound of light splashes.

"It's just enough for this lady. You'll push it under."

"Let me try at least, or I'll die soon," the man begged.

"You'll die quicker if you come any closer. If there was room for another, don't you think I would put the other lady on it?"

The man looked over at my shivering form and nodded. "Yes. Yes, I see. Good luck to you then. God bless."

Jack turned back around to face Rose, taking her hands in his. "Keep moving, Rose. Keep moving," he said as he rubbed her arms to give her some kind of warmth. "You too, Myndi."

I tried to move my legs to get some kind of circulation going, but it was no use. I was far too cold to do anything.

"You'll be all right now. You'll be all right now."

An officer next to us started blowing his whistle. "Return the boats!" he screamed as he continued to blow his whistle.

All three of us were shivering violently from the mixture of the cold water and the cold air.

"The boats are coming back for us, you two," Jack shivered. "Hold on just a little bit longer. They…had to row away for the suction, but now they'll be coming back."

He was wrong. Only one would come back, and they would be far too late.

All around us, everyone was screaming for someone to help them. It was complete and utter chaos.

Each second passed by agonizingly slow as we waited for something to happen. The screams and cries around us were growing softer as more and more people succumbed to the cold water.

My legs were frozen and I could no longer feel any part of my body. I had never been so cold in all my life. I couldn't even think about anything any longer. It was like my brain just refused to work as if it had iced over along with everything else.

Frost was beginning to form in all of our hair and on our clothes. Like I needed another reminder of how cold it was.

"It's getting quiet," Rose whispered.

"It's j-just going to take them a c-couple of m-minutes to g-get the boats organized," Jack said, his voice shaking violently. He had been in the water for far too long. We both had. "I-I don't know…about y-you, but I intend to w-write a strongly worded l-letter to the W-White Star Line about all this."

I lightly forced a smile. I was friends with guys who made jokes when looking at the face of death.

"I love you, Jack," Rose forced out, her voice hoarse.

Jack's breathing was getting increasingly shallow. "D-Don't you do that. Don't y-you say your good-byes. Not yet. Do you understand m-me?"

There was silence for a while with just the sound of our shallow breathing until Rose said, "I'm so cold."

"Listen, Rose…y-you're going to get out of here. You're going to go on, and you're going to make lots of babies, and you're going to w-watch them grow. You're going to die an old…an old lady, warm in her bed. Not here. Not this night. N-Not like this. D-Do you understand m-me?"

"I can't feel my body."

"W-Winning that ticket, Rose, was the b-best thing that ever happened to me. It brought me to you…and I'm thankful for that, Rose. I'm thankful." He brought his other arm up and gripped her hands. "You must…You must…You must do me this honor. You must p-promise me that you'll s-survive. That you won't…give up, no matter what h-happens. No matter how h-hopeless. Promise me now, Rose, and never let go of that promise."

"I promise," Rose mustered out.

"N-Never let go."

"I will never let go, Jack. I'll never let go."

Jack smiled and kissed her hand. Then he looked over at me. I took note of how blue his face had gotten. Did I look like that too? "Myndi, I couldn't be h-happier that you c-couldn't pay me in Santa M-Monica. I'm s-so glad that I got to b-be there when you f-fell in love again."

My bottom lip quivered from the cold as I tried to look at him. "I'm so thankful that I g-got to be your b-best friend," I said, my voice sounding worse than I expected it to. It was taking almost all of my strength to even speak. "I've loved every s-second of it."

"M-Myndi," Rose mustered out. "I'm honored to b-be your f-friend."

"S-Same here. I'm s-so happy that I g-got to meet y-you. Y-you're even b-better in p-person."

I knew that had to sound strange to her, but we were all so out of it that it didn't matter. As I continued to shiver from the water, I kept thinking about all of the people who would be on the Carpathia, looking for their loved ones, many of them unsuccessful. I could almost hear their weeping as they realized that they would never again see the ones they had left on Titanic.

My shivering began to cease. I felt so tired and weak. My head rested on the door, too exhausted to hold it up anymore. By now, I didn't feel cold. Just really, really tired.

I closed my eyes, and I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. I listened as it got slower and slower.

And finally…I broke Rule #3.


	13. Ship of Dreams

**I didn't plan this, but I am uploading the final chapter to this story on the 104th anniversary of the Titanic sinking. Remember all the ones who were lost.**

 **You will not be forgotten.**

* * *

My eyes popped open, and I gasped as I started shivering violently. It took a good several minutes for my shaking to stop. I looked around me and saw that I was in my bed in my apartment wrapped in several blankets, one of them being an electric blanket that was turned on as high as it could go.

When I had calmed down and my shivering stopped, my thoughts traveled back to everything I had been through in the last four days. I buried my face in my pillow and I began sobbing.

When I had finally stopped crying, I got out from the blankets and went out to the living room.

"Myndi!" my roommate, Sara, said, noticing me from the couch. She got up and came over to me. "I'm glad to see you're okay!"

"What exactly happened?"

"Kyle and I came back and we found you unconscious on the floor in front of the TV. You know he's a nurse, so he looked you over and determined that you had just passed out, but you hadn't injured yourself, so he carried you to your bed. You started shivering at one point, so I put some blankets on you."

"That's it?" I asked numbly.

"Yeah. Are you okay? You look like death."

"Yeah…"

I made myself some food, but I was silent for the remainder of the day.

I hopped into the shower, letting the warm water douse my body. I had forgotten how good hot water felt. I stepped out and wrapped a towel around myself. Then I immediately broke down onto the floor in sobs. I felt guilty that I got to take a hot shower while everyone I loved froze in the icy Atlantic waters. I was furious with myself for being so blasé about a horrendous incident that had taken so many lives in such a torturous way.

When I went to sleep that night, I had a dream that was very similar to Rose's dream at the end of the movie…

* * *

 _I was walking through Titanic's halls. Everything was broken and covered with algae. I slowly reached out and touched one of the walls, and immediately, everything began to change. As I walked forward more and more, the halls continued to change and become exactly as they had been when I was on it._

 _I went towards the Grand Staircase, and when I got to the door, a man smiled at me and opened it for me._

 _I stepped inside and there was everyone who had perished on Titanic. I could feel my eyes fill with large tears. The orchestra who had played_ An Irish Blessing _for me smiled and nodded towards me. I waved and returned their smile._

 _"Aunt Myndi!"_

 _"Cora, darling!" I said to the girl in her father's arms. I gently took her hands as she smiled at me._

 _I continued to walk forward, and I saw Fabrizio with his arms around Helga._

 _"Fabrizio," I smiled, more tears forming._

 _"Hello,_ mio tesoro _," he laughed._

 _"Helga."_

 _"Hello, Myndi."_

 _On the bottom step of the Grand Staircase, tears rolled down my cheeks as I saw Jack. I went up to him and enveloped him into a tight hug. "Jack. It's so good to see you."_

 _"Hi, Myndi. I'm glad to see you too. But I'm not the one you should be hugging."_

 _"What do you mean?"_

 _Jack looked up to the top of the Grand Staircase. Instead of Jack being there, like in Rose's dream, Tommy stood there waiting for me. I gasped and ran up to him, hugging him and not letting go for a long time._

 _"I miss you," I finally said as I faced him, tears pouring from my eyes._

 _"I miss you too."_

 _"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. You promised to catch me when I fell, but I couldn't do the same for you."_

 _"Nonsense. You couldn't have stopped a fixed event. But you stayed until I was gone, and you sent me off the best way you could. You caught me. I know it."_

 _"Please don't leave me again."_

 _"I have to, lass."_

 _"Then take me with you."_

 _Tommy smiled sadly. "You know I can't do that. I'm not even real."_

 _"You're real to me. You're as real to me now as when we were together on the ship."_

 _"I know. But you were never meant to be with me. There's someone out there for you. Someone totally real who will love you just as much as I do. I helped you open your heart again, lass. I've done my job. Now you need to let me go."_

 _As much as I hated it, I knew he was right. Because of Tommy, I knew that it was possible for me to find someone else to love. He helped me get over my experience with Nate, and that was what I really needed._

 _"I love you, Myndi."_

 _I looked up at him. "I love you too," I said through my sobs._

 _I kissed him long and hard, remembering each and every second of the wonderful feeling of his lips on mine._

* * *

I woke up in bed with tears spilling from my eyes as fast as they had been in my dream. I turned over and continued to cry as I thought back to everything that had happened with Tommy and how much I loved him, despite the fact that I'd only known him for about four days.

He was right. I needed to get over him. It would take some time, but it was possible for me to do. He believed in me. So I needed to believe in myself.

* * *

"Myndi," Sara said to me as I passed her on the way to the kitchen. "I'm really worried about you. You've been acting really depressed lately, and I haven't seen you this upset since Nate. Did something happen?"

I couldn't tell her the whole story because she would think I was crazy for falling in love with a fictional character.

"I fell in love. And I got hurt again," I told her.

"You did? Who was it? Do I need to have a talk with him?"

"No. It's not like that. He died."

"Oh, that's awful. How?"

"He was shot."

"I didn't hear about any of this happening."

"No, you wouldn't. I really liked him, and he really liked me. We only knew each other for four days."

"Four days? I thought you were always talking about how it was impossible to fall in love so fast."

"I was wrong."

Sara looked at me sadly, realizing how much I had changed, and that I had lost another person who my heart belonged to. Tears began rolling down my cheeks as I began thinking of Tommy.

"I find myself wishing that I had never met him in the first place so I wouldn't be hurting so much. And I hate myself for thinking that. Because the days I spent with him were the best days of my life. He helped me get over my experience with Nate, and he showed me how to love again. And I just miss him so much!"

Sara came up to me and hugged me tightly.

"It's not fair! It's just not fair!"

I sobbed in her embrace, remembering how much I loved Tommy, and how much I wished that I was with him once more.

* * *

Some time later, I traveled to Halifax in Nova Scotia, Canada, and I visited the Fairview Cemetery where many of the Titanic victims were buried.

As I walked along the many, many markers that represented someone who had perished that night, all the memories of my time aboard Titanic came back to me and I felt tears pour down my face yet again.

Many of the markers only had a number and the date the Titanic sank because the body had never been able to be identified. What really hit me was the Marker of the Unknown Child where the body of a 19-month-old baby had been buried.

I realized that this was only a fraction of the people who had been killed by the waters that night. These markers only represented the bodies that had been recovered. Tommy and Jack, had they been real, wouldn't have been buried here.

"Excuse me."

I turned and saw a young man next to me. He looked embarrassed when he realized that I was crying.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you."

"It's fine."

"Did…did you know anyone here?"

I looked out at all the markers. "In a way…I knew everyone. Yet at the same time…I know no one." I shook my head. "I'm sorry. That probably sounds crazy."

"Not as crazy as you might think."

"Did you know anyone?"

"My great-uncle is buried here. He was only twenty at the time."

 _Just like Jack,_ I thought.

"I heard all about him from my grandmother who was able to survive the sinking. I come here every year on the anniversary of Titanic sinking to bring him flowers."

There was silence between us for a little while.

"I'll just…leave you to your thoughts. I'm sorry to interrupt."

"Wait," I said quickly before he left. "If you could just give me a few minutes, I'd like to talk with you."

The man gave me a small smile. "Sure."

After spending a little more time in the cemetery, I went outside and found the young man waiting for me. I learned his name was James, and we went to go grab a coffee together. He told me what his grandmother had told him about the night Titanic sank. She had been able to get on a lifeboat, but her brother could not and froze in the water.

"I knew of a woman on the ship," I said to him. "She was a Third Class member who was on the ship with her best friend. She met someone, and even though she tried not to, she fell in love with him."

James chuckled. "That sounds kind of like the movie."

"Yeah. Fancy that. He was shot by one of the panicked officers, and I never learned exactly what happened to her, but I know she didn't make it."

"That's so sad."

We talked for hours on end, and I felt very comfortable with him. Titanic was the main topic of our conversation for a while, but eventually, we switched to more regular topics.

We exchanged numbers before we left the coffee shop, and we stayed in constant communication.

After a while, I started dating him, and eventually we got married.

I knew that despite the fact that he was a fictional character, a piece of my heart would always belong to Tommy.

But like he had told me, I had to let him go because there was someone else out there for me.

And he was right. It was James.

I never told James how I had gotten to experience the Titanic tragedy firsthand. I never told anyone. It was a life-changing experience that no one would ever know except me.

I love James, and I always will.

But I will never forget what Tommy did for me in 1912 on Titanic. For as Rose said in the movie, "Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams. And it was. It really was."


End file.
